Searching Souls
by The.Right.Doctor
Summary: Two universes, two souls, two people, one love. Their souls were calling out across the dimensions, with the most impossible results. Impossible, but wonderful. Ten/Rose, post Doomsday, pre-Turn Left. Please R&R. Rated 'M' for a reason. A fix-it, of sorts
1. Part The First

_(I don't own _Doctor Who_, but I do _love_ borrowing the characters!)(This started out as a _really_ long one-shot, so I broke it into different parts, just to see how it looks.)(Please R&R!)_

**Searching Souls**

On the rare occasions when both the Doctor and Rose were asleep they, as usual, dreamed of each other, but it would be different, somehow. Even though they were in two different universes, the two had the same dreams.

When the dreams started, the two had merely embraced, reveling in the feel of each other, and examining each other for the little changes that had appeared in their time apart.

The overlap time of their dreams was short, because of the time differences between the two universes. The two had taken their time realizing that they were at Bad Wolf Bay, and then to notice the other, so that they only had a few minutes to embrace and reluctantly pull back.

"Doctor," she sighed; blissful that he was even in her dreams.

At the same time, the Doctor whispered, "Rose," feeling that this was something more than just a dream.

They stared at each other for a full minute, examining and memorizing each other's face, after months of separation on his part, and a year on hers.

When he felt himself slipping away, the Doctor held Rose tight, managing to say, "I might as well _say_ it this time... Rose Tyler, I -" he was cut off once more as they were pulled apart; he was waking up.

Though he wished to go back to his dreams, the Doctor found it impossible, so he got up, storing the dream in his memory so that he would be able to revisit it later, rather than forget, as dreams are typically lost.

When he reached the console room, the Doctor saw Martha "Just one more trip" Jones sitting on the chair, bright and cheery at the possibility of seeing a new time or place. The Doctor was painfully aware of how often Rose had worn such an expression, and had to force a smile for his newest companion.

During the next months, the Doctor slept almost every night, far more often than his Superior Time Lord Physiology required. But he could not help himself; he was merely trying to see his Rose again.

The next time they met was a week later for him, three for her. The first thing the pair did was look into each other's eyes. He stared into her hazel eyes, which would forever more be speckled with gold, while she gazed into his brown eyes, watching the swirl of the universe within them.

This time they were together longer, and they started talking about what they had been doing, and how much they missed each other. Much to the Doctor's relief, Rose never mentioned the sentence he had failed to complete the last two times they spoke.

Yet again, both could tell that they were about to be separated, and Rose threw her arms around her Doctor, knowing that the faint buzzing sound was most likely her alarm. She wanted to stay with her Doctor forever, but knew she was slipping away. In a last attempt to stay with the man she loved, Rose pulled back to look him in the eye briefly before kissing him with all the desperation, ardor, and passion she could muster.

Before the Doctor could respond, either to kiss her back or push her away, Rose heard the loud buzzing of her alarm and opened her eyes reluctantly to see her bedroom in the Tyler mansion.

As she got ready for work, Rose replayed the dream in her mind, wishing that everything he said had been the truth, not just her imagination. 'But,' she thought, 'it _must_ be real. Why else would a name like Martha Jones stick itself in her head?' Truth be told, she was jealous of this imaginary new companion, not only because she got to travel with the Doctor, but also because the dream him had spoken so very fondly of this Martha girl.

Rose had to tell herself that her dreams were just that: dreams. Even though most of her dreams were memories of her time with her Doctor - _both_ of her Doctors - Rose had to think these new developments were just dreams, otherwise she would never stop trying to reach him in her sleep.

After two months in the Doctor's universe, the pair had met up four times in their sleep, twice more after their first two meetings. These two times, they spoke about changes in the world, Rose of how Harriet Jones was still Prime Minister in the universe she was stuck in, and the Doctor of how no one ever stopped talking about some Saxon bloke. They spoke for a lengthy amount of time about Rose's little brother, Tony, as well, since Rose could tell the Doctor wanted something light to talk about. The pair always embraced and kissed in greeting as well as parting, although the kisses were chaste, never revealing the true longing hidden beneath the surface.

On their fifth meeting, however, neither Rose nor the Doctor pulled away from the kiss, allowing it to grow passionate as they entwined themselves within each other's grasp, her hands on the back of his neck, playing with his hair, and his hands running through her locks, reveling in the feeling of intimacy that came with the action.

Rose, having not been kissed in such a manner in such a _long_ time, gasped when the last of the Time Lords moved his lips down to her neck, working his magic as he sucked and nibbled at the sensitive flesh, driving her practically mad.

Rose could feel the cheeky grin that always made her heart beat a little faster appearing on the Doctor's face as she let out the gasp, he was feeling reassured in his ability to drive her mad, something he was hitherto unsure he could still do. Rose chuckled and exclaimed, in a voice filled with reminiscence, innuendo, laughter, and lust, "You always _could_ work wonders with that mouth of yours!"

She was feeling more than slightly useless, however, just standing there while the Doctor's wandering lips created such pleasure within her, so when he paused to chuckle, Rose latched her lips on to his once more. To say that they snogged would not do their kisses justice. The two were expressing their love for one another, in the simplest way they could, pouring their emotions into each other.

Rose decided she could spend forever kissing the Doctor, he was an excellent kisser, and also, he tasted... _Oh!_ He tasted like a mix of cinnamon and sugar, as well as what she could only assume were time and mystery. It had only taken her a moment to come to the conclusion that he tasted even better than he smelled, and he _smelled_ absolutely delectable!

The Doctor had taken note of Rose's taste when he kissed the vortex out of her, and again when she was possessed by Cassandra, but, he had decided when they started kissing passionately, the brief kisses had not done her justice. As his tongue explored the cavities of her mouth, he was submerged in the tastes of vanilla and mint, with a hint of time lingering from when she had absorbed the vortex.

When Rose's lungs burned for oxygen, she pulled away, sucking in air quickly before her lips began to make their way down his jawline and to his neck, sucking and nipping at his pulse point, where she could feel his two hearts racing.

Neither one had to think for an instant how far they were willing to go, both loved each other more than the worlds, and were willing to go all the way, just to finally show each other that love.

Both the Doctor and Rose still believed their meetings to be merely dreams, not that their hearts were calling out to each other across the dimensions, desperate for each other's comforting presence.

The Doctor wondered if the _real_ Rose would ever want to kiss him like this as her tongue danced with his, but he dismissed the thought, content with kissing his love, even though he believed it to be nothing more than a dream.

It was amazing, really, how they had lasted so long without completely ravaging each other, as their bodies filled with heat, passion, lust, yearning, love, and hormones, and responded to the heated kisses and intimate touches that were being shared. The urges that they two felt were innate, primal, even, and the Doctor was shocked that he could feel so utterly _human_. Even though he was supposed to be above such lust, he could no more stop himself from responding to the urges than he could go back and watch his planet and people burn once more.

Just as the Doctor pulled off his trench coat and spread it out on the sand for them to lay upon, both felt their different worlds pulling them back. As per usual, the two lovers kissed goodbye, although this kiss was much more like the heated one they had broken apart from moments before, rather than the chaste kisses they had shared previously.

In two parallel universes, a man and a woman woke up in their beds, both wishing they could continue their dreams, and feeling extremely aroused.


	2. Part The Second

_Searching Souls_

**Part the Second**

It had been over half a year, now, since her dreams had started, and Rose spent most of her time wishing that she could just live in her dream, the one where she and the Doctor were reunited. Everyone believed her to be daft, Mickey even openly told her so, but Rose could care less. She _lived_ for that dream these days, and so she was ecstatic when, three weeks after they were so rudely pulled apart, Rose found herself once more on the beach with her Doctor.

Running towards him, she felt the need to kiss him once more, and obliged, knowing it would do her some good.

When Rose paused for air, the Doctor moved his lips down her jawline to kiss and suck and nibble at the sensitive skin on her neck, punctuating each word with a kiss as he muttered, relieved, "I couldn't _stand_ to be away from you for so long! A week is just too much!"

Rose giggled and forced herself not to shudder in delight as he worked his magic, managing to retort playfully, "You think _one_ week is bad? Try waiting _three_. _That_ was hell."

For some reason, neither thought it odd that their love had been left waiting for a different amount of time; they were supposedly dreams, after all.

Picking up right where they left off, the Doctor's coat was placed on the sand of the deserted beach, and then Rose was helping him to lose his suit jacket, tie, and shirt, throwing all three articles haphazardly around on the sand, while never once breaking off their kiss. When his chest was finally bare, Rose ran her hands up and down the Doctor's chest, marveling at the hidden muscle beneath her hands before proceeding to kiss every inch of the skin that her eyes were feasting upon.

The Doctor let out a groan as he felt himself grow impossibly aroused, wondering if this dream Rose knew just what she was doing to him. Instead of asking, however, the Doctor pouted and jokingly whined, "No fair! You have _way_ more clothes on than me!"

At his comment, Rose flashed him a look that could only be described as coy and said as seductively as she could, "You can always change that, you know."

The Doctor pulled Rose down so that they were sitting on his coat, pulling the fabric of her shirt over her head as they did so, letting his eyes feast upon her beauty.

As he kissed along Rose's collarbone, the Doctor wondered how he had even gotten so lucky that a beautiful girl like her would even tolerate his depressing presence for longer than the briefest of moments.

The Doctor's lips traveled down to the valley between her breasts, frowning slightly at the pesky lace bra that hid the soft flesh from him.

Rose, too, mentally cursed her bra, because it caused the Doctor to stop his kissing while he fumbled with the clasp - five seconds they could have spent kissing rather than not. The result of the temporary pause, however, was well worth it; the Doctor began caressing, massaging, and generally teasing her breasts in a way that drove Rose completely _mad_ with pleasure and lust.

She could hardly suppress the moaned, "Doctor," that fought to come out, and it was a futile effort, for soon his actions triggered another moan from deep within her, and she found she could not fight it off.

Slowly, the Doctor's lips made their way back up to her mouth, where he proceeded to kiss her until her lungs burned for air. It was no fair, she decided, that he should have a respiratory bypass and she should not.

Knowing that their time was short, Rose decided that, foreplay be damned, she would _have_ her Doctor now. Having decided thus, Rose kissed her way down his chest, halting at the waistline of his slacks before he raised himself on his elbows so she could slide them down, along with his boxers, taking off his trainers when she got there as well.

She took a moment to marvel at her Doctor, at how stunning he looked, and how _aroused_. Before she had gotten her complete eyeful, however, the Doctor was forcing her to lie down as he kissed _his _way from her lips to the waistband of her jeans. He made quick work of discarding them, along with her knickers, and the converse she had been wearing.

She lay on her side facing him, and he mirrored the position, both drinking each other in. After a solid minute, the Doctor could no longer resist, and Rose found herself pinned on her back, kissing her Doctor full on the lips with all the passion she could muster.

As their hands explored each other, learning the reactions that came with each new touch, the two lovers let out moans, not believing that they could possibly grow any more aroused. Not being able to take it any longer, the Doctor slipped into Rose, joining the two as one.

As Rose rolled her hips up to meet him, the Doctor pulled away before moving in and out of her, reveling in the way only she could make him feel. He was moving slowly, though, and Rose felt that if things did not speed up, she would burst, so she lifted her hips up once more, encouraging him to pick up the pace before she leaned up all the way and kissed him on the lips once more, sucking at his lower lip, the one that played a prominent part in his irresistible pout.

He started moving faster, for he knew they both needed it, and soon the two were falling into ecstasy together, seeing stars.

Not two minutes later, the Doctor could feel himself slipping away, and so kissed Rose passionately once more, saying goodbye.

When he woke up, the Doctor frowned at being torn from his wonderful dreams, and noticed that he would need to change. Even after all this, he realized with a frown that, though he had just _made love_ to Rose, even if it was only a dream, he had yet to tell her his feelings. The thought made his frown deepen, and the Time Lord could not come to terms with _why_ he was unable to tell her.

In the weeks that followed, three for the Doctor, he and Martha traveled, and he had no more dreams. Then they met up with Jack once more, leading to him discovering that his old friend - and enemy - the Master was still alive, and then the Year That Never Was.

Throughout that year, the Doctor had no more dreams of seeing Rose again, and it disappointed him, even when he realized that none of the dreams would have happened, anyway. Over the year, the Doctor had a lot of time to think, about his dreams, and about how he had not been able to confess his feelings to her on so many occasions. The Doctor finally realized that he had been unable to tell Rose about his love for her because it would only end up hurting him even more when she died and he had to carry on; admitting his love would intensify the inevitable pain.

As soon as the ordeal was over, the Doctor tried to reach that dream once more, but _could not_ seem to reach it.

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The two alerts made me think I should keep posting this, but no one has reviewed yet, so I don't know. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!

_For less than the cost of a ticket to the movies you can make sure that people continue to read _Searching Souls_. All I want is for all the people who read this chapter to review. With your reviews, we'll keep the monkey in my brain that writes these stories happy. Remember, call _1-800-Review-Now_ or click the green button to automatically connected. Our operators are standing by.  
__(stolen from R.A. Pointless)_


	3. Part The Third

_Sorry it took so long to post, I had it all written out, but had no time to actually type and edit it...  
I must also apologize for not getting back to all the reviews, I promise I read each and every one, and they meant a lot to me! This story already has 17 reviews, 8 favs, and 10 alerts! Wow, thanks guys!  
I'll try to get the next update up sooner, but I have to re-watch the _Stolen Earth_ and _Journey's End_ before I can finish this, and I don't know when _that's _going to happen.  
One last note: I live in the US, so _The Waters of Mars_ has not officially aired, but thanks to some lovely people on YouTube I was able to watch it, so I feel the need to say that although RTD and David Tennant are leaving, their final episodes are still amazing._

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_Searching Souls_

**Part The Third**

Three weeks after she and the Doctor made love in her dream, and Rose could not believe her eyes. Looking at the piece of plastic in her hands, she shook it roughly, in the hopes that it would change the result. The single, life-changing word remained in capital letters, almost mocking her.

'But,' she thought, desperately trying to figure it all out, 'that was only a dream! There's no way this could happen because of a _dream_, and I haven't…'

It took her moments to decide whether or not to tell her mum; if she could not figure it out herself, how in the (parallel) world would she explain it to her mum? No, rather than tell Jackie, Rose would try and figure out what had happened herself.

Twenty tests and two months later, Rose still had no clue how she had gotten into such a state, but there was not a doubt in her mind that she was pregnant. At twenty one. With the love of her life in another dimension. And she hadn't shagged anyone since before she broke up with Mickey over three years ago.

She was royally fucked up, now.

Three months after she and the Doctor made love in her dream, Rose finally got back to Bad Wolf Bay, with her Doctor waiting for her. Although Rose was ecstatic to see him once more, she was nervous about explaining her predicament to him. She was worried that, though he was just a dream (although that fact alone made the possibility greater, since her insecurities would surely come out in her dreams), he would reject her because of the sheer impossibility of the situation.

The Doctor, thrilled to see his love after the year that never was, ran to her and kissed her enthusiastically, frowning when she did not return the sentiment. Rose, although thrilled to see him after so long, was too worried about his reaction to respond properly.

He pulled away, concern and love etched into his visage. "Rose," he whispered, "what's wrong?"

She looked at the sand until the Doctor gently lifted her chin, making her look him in the eyes. "You can tell me anything, you know," he murmured gently, forgetting for the moment that he was dreaming that she was not actually there with him.

The blond let out a sigh as she whispered, "It's just not fair! I have to wake up and go to work and wait weeks, sometimes months, until I get to see you again! And now, well... It just doesn't make sense." Her eyes dropped once more, arms crossing reflexively over her still flat stomach and tears welling up in her eyes. Right then, she really hated her hormones and their ability to manipulate her emotions.

The Doctor was immensely confused. This dream-Rose was speaking as though _he_ were the dream. But he didn't focus on that. There was something different about her, he noticed, but the Time Lord could not place whatever it was. He noticed the way her arms lay almost protectively over her stomach, but disregarded it as he pulled her into a hug.

In sheer confusion, Rose let out some of the tears she had not shed in _ages _before wrapping her arms around him and whispering into her Doctor's embrace, "I never want to wake from this dream! Especially since Mum and Dad and Mickey all looked at me as though I was completely daft when I told them after the first dream. If I told them _everything_, I think they'd try and lock me up until they had seen some proof."

The Doctor listened to Rose babbling on as she got everything off of her chest. When she had been quiet for a full minute, he spoke gently. "Rose, I don't know quite what you're going on about, but I know how hard it is waking up after these meetings; how hard it is to carry on. Sometimes I even wish I could spend the rest of my life dreaming of you like this, but there's always another civilization that needs saving. You've got to keep going, no matter how much you don't want to. Just think of all the people out there who need you. Think of your mum, your dad, your little brother. Get up every day for them."

She had to give him credit; he was one _hell_ of a motivational speaker. "But," she insisted, "What I'm going through now goes far beyond just meeting you in a dream. This time it's carried over into my waking reality."

The Doctor put his hands on her shoulders, pulling away to look her in the eye as he murmured, "Rose, you are not making one iota of sense." He sighed, leaning in to kiss her gently before insisting, "Just tell me what's wrong and I can fix it. I can't do anything if you refuse to tell me, however."

"... It's impossible," she whispered.

"You know how I love impossible." He punctuated his sentence with his cheeky grin, the one she had loved from the start.

"I... I'm pregnant, Doctor."

She said it so quietly that at first he could not believe he had heard her correctly, but then she looked up at him, fearful of a negative reaction, and he knew he had heard correctly.

When the blond saw her love's reaction, she began to worry that he would reject her, that he would laugh at and scorn her, his silence was so disconcerting.

"But..." he finally whispered, his shock clear on his face."But... That's _not_ possible... Even if we had... in real life, it just could not happen..."

Rose bit her lip and looked up at him nervously, her insecurity apparent in her voice. "You always _did_ like the impossible."

The Doctor sighed, running a frustrated and confused hand through his hair. "Scientifically, though, us having a child is impossible. We're two different species, Time Lord and human, and different species cannot reproduce successfully... Besides, even if it _were_ possible - which it is not - the chances of you being pregnant after one time are minuscule, practically nonexistent, even..."

As Rose watched, the Doctor began pacing, muttering to himself all the while. After he had been doing so for two full minutes, Rose finally pulled him from his ramblings with a loud, "Oi!" When she was sure she had his attention, Rose walked up to him and said, still nervous, "It may be impossible, but I _am_ pregnant. With _your_ child, nonetheless. So let's just be thankful for our little miracle, yeah?"

Still frowning in distracted thought, the Doctor nodded before a huge grin broke out on his face and he engulfed her in a hug. After a moment he pulled away, picked her up at the waist, and spun around, peals of joyous laughter emanating from the pair.

Just before he put her down, the Doctor pulled Rose in to him for a kiss filled with joy and love.

When he set her down, the Doctor looked the blond in the eye and spoke earnestly, "Rose Marion Tyler, I love you... _And _our baby."

He was not too surprised when Rose pressed her lips to his passionately, overjoyed that he had finally declared his love. As they wrapped their arms around each other, their tongues danced, reveling in the tastes they were immersed in.

When they pulled back for air, Rose was still unsure. "Are you sure, Doctor? You really don't regret anything?"

Looking at his love as though she were crazy, the last Time Lord spoke honestly and truly, "I don't regret anything, and I would not take a second back." After a moment, he felt he had to ask, although he was fairly certain he knew the answer. "What about you, do you regret it?"

It was Rose's turn to look at her companion as though he were daft as she replied, "Not one bit. I would do it all again if I had the choice because I love you, Doctor."

When she woke up, Rose was grinning at the confession, although she was nervous about sharing her news with her mum, her dad, and Mickey.

As expected, Jackie flipped, and it was up to Pete to calm her down. When Rose looked over at Mickey, he was clearly in shock.

"You're _what_??" Her mother exploded after getting Pete to stop trying to keep her calm.

Rose silently wondered how long it was going to take and wished that the Doctor was there with her to give her strength before she answered slowly, enunciating every word. "I . Am. Pregnant. With. The. Doctor's. Child."

Jackie looked like she was about to faint, worrying her daughter. Finally she managed to calm herself, saying quietly, "So, when did you two start shagging?"

While Mickey looked extremely uncomfortable, Rose blushed scarlet, exclaiming, "Mum!"

"What? You've already admitted you're pregnant! All I want to know is if you started with Big Ears or Skinny Boy."

Rose frowned at the nicknames for her Doctor, muttering indignantly, "You can come up with nothing better than 'Skinny Boy'? Really?"

Jackie scowled at her daughter the slightest bit before replying defensively, "What? He's so skinny I sometimes thought he'd snap in two when you hugged 'im!" The older woman noticed the relieved look on Rose's face and exclaimed, "Oi! You really think you're getting away without answering my question? Out with it. Now."

She spoke with the authority of one who had played the role of a parent before, something Rose found extremely ironic considering the fact that Jackie hardly ever played the role while _she_ was growing up. Looking at the tired yet content looks in her parents' eyes, Rose realized her mum must be changing her parenting style, now that Pete was with her.

Before her mother grew too impatient, Rose whispered, "We never shagged," she frowned at the sense of casualty that came with the word, "not while I was traveling with him."

Pete and Mickey were both thoroughly confused, as was Jackie, but unlike the two men, she kept questioning her daughter. "What do you _mean_ you never shagged 'im? You must have if you're really pregnant with 'is kid!"

"I... I don't know how to explain it..." Rose paused for a minute, pondering how she should say it. Finally she decided to just start with the dreams and work her way from there. "It started about ten months ago, when I had that dream I told you about..."

**TBC...**


	4. Part The Fourth

_Hi again! It's been a while, so I'll try to keep this short. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story, I really appreciate all the positive feedback! I wasn't sure where to cut this chapter off, and I think it shows a little... Anyways, enjoy and, as always, please tell me what you think by way of a review!  
_**Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, there's something wrong with your head, if you think I own Doctor Who!**

* * *

_Searching Souls_

**Part The Fourth**

The next time the Doctor saw Rose, roughly two weeks since he had told her how he felt, he engulfed her in his arms straight away, trying to force himself not to crush his love… and his child. The grin that had hardly left his face since he found out increased tenfold at the thought that he was holding the two most important people in his universe in his arms. It had been so very long since he had a child in his care…

The thought made his smile falter as he remembered Susan, and what terrible mistakes he had made with her.

Rose knew that he was over nine hundred years old and obviously had a family at some point in his extraordinarily long life. She also knew he must have lost them somewhere along the line, since he was the _last_ of the Time Lords.

She could tell from the way his posture changed from practically bursting with energy to slouching that he was remembering the horrors of his past. Pulling back a little, Rose flashed the Doctor a grin and murmured into his ear, "The past is in the past. Everything is different now."

After tenderly kissing her way up his neck and to his lips, Rose stepped out of their embrace to look him in the eyes as she said, "I _will_ find my way back to you, and our child _will_ know his or her father, the most wonderful man in all the universes."

The Doctor grinned at her profession, though he had stated that crossing between the parallel worlds was impossible now that the Time Lords were gone. He trusted Rose to find her way back to him, she always did. He had learned long ago not to underestimate her; she had taken out an entire fleet of Daleks with a flick of her wrist, she could make her way back to him.

The two kissed sweetly for a bit, before Rose started telling the Doctor about her life. "You know, Doctor, Toney's favorite stories are about my travels with you."

The Doctor grinned at the sweet smile on her face, before replying, "Really? That's brilliant!" After a moment, however, a confused look appeared on his face. "Rose, how old is your brother?"

"Well, he's about a year old, now, but I know he enjoys the stories." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Well, at least he enjoys them better than those stupid books Mum reads 'im."

The Doctor laughed at that, replying, "You know, I rather miss your mother now that I haven't seen her in a year and a half… Although, I _could_ do without the slaps." Rose had to laugh at that comment, and her laughter grew when he added as an afterthought, "I think Donna could give her a run for her money in that department…"

"Is Donna your newest companion?" Rose was curious, and the fact that this mysterious woman had slapped him gave Rose the impression that they could be good friends.

The Doctor grinned in response, nodding vigorously as he exclaimed, "Yep! You would love her, Rose! She's truly _brilliant_! Although… She has the same problem you did…"

When Rose gave the Doctor a perplexed look, he explained, "She never believes me when I tell her how brilliant she is, she always says, 'I'm just a temp,' kind of like how you would always claim to be 'just a shop girl.' Really, you humans are ridiculous! You get a compliment and immediately compile a list of reasons as to why the compliment does not apply to you. Honestly…"

Rose laughed at him, having seen the rant coming from the moment he started talking about Donna. "Doctor," she cut in, laughter in her voice, "I get it. We're all a bunch of 'stupid apes' who can't take a compliment for our pitifully short lives. I would have thought a 'Superior Time Lord' like you would have known we were all the same in that respect!"

The Doctor grinned at her, knowing better than to try and find an insult in her words. "Well, regardless of how crazy you humans are, Donna is a brilliant woman. Really, she's probably my best friend. Well… aside from you. So, she's my best friend in my universe – until you come back to me, that is."

From the grin on his face, Rose knew that he was anticipating her return and was probably already picturing their reunion – which would hopefully _not_ involve a life-or-death situation. Her voice took on a tone of mockery as she replied, "Really, Doctor? You only have _two_ friends? That's kind of sad, you know. Especially considerin' how I'm not even with you in your universe – yet."

The Doctor's face grew more serious, and almost abruptly he declared, "_When_ you get back to me, I am going to hold you and never let you go, ever. Not even in the middle of the night when our daughter starts crying. We'll go together, and you'll learn to do everything one-handed."

The sincerity in his voice truly touched Rose, but there was something he had said that did not sit right with her. "Doctor, did you say, 'our daughter'?"

He nodded enthusiastically, the smile still not gone from his visage as he replied, "She's going to have the best childhood of anyone in the universe!"

"But, Doctor, I don't think you're right on that point." When he frowned, she immediately clarified, "I think we're going to have a boy, not a girl. You know, a mini-Doctor to wreak chaos across the galaxies by licking monarchs and accidentally insulting diplomats as he rambles off at a million miles a minute."

The Doctor smiled, but he held firm, insisting that their child would be a girl, who he decided would have Rose's eyes and smiles, but his knack for getting into trouble. To distract her from their disagreement, the Doctor announced excitedly, "Rose, I think the first trip we should take our child on is to Barcelona! You know, we never did make it there ourselves… It would be quite nice to bring our little family to a new planet together. Well... new for you and our child. Of course I've been there before, saved the planet, I did…"

Rose let him ramble on, knowing that he was in his element. She was perfectly content with watching the different expressions that flashed across his face while he spoke, all of them one form of joy or another.

When he had finished with his story, the Doctor and Rose discussed all the places they would go with their child, like Raxacoricofallapatorius. Jokingly, Rose even suggested the planet Vulcan, and was shocked when the Doctor agreed. "Sure! We could go there! Although... It's not what you'd expect.... It's a human colony planet, chosen because of the similar atmosphere and mercury swamps."

Rose's face dropped as she commented, "So, no Vulcans with pointy ears?"

"Nope." She had to smile at the way he popped the 'p'.

"Is the planet named after 'Star Trek,' then?"

"Actually," the Doctor was in his element, and was enjoying himself far too much, "the planet in 'Star Trek' was named after it! You see, I took Ace with me to the planet, to show her how humans would eventually colonize across the universe. Then we went back to Earth, a few years before her time, and she got to talking with Gene Roddenberry about the possibility of life on other planets, and she suggested that maybe, somewhere among the stars there could be a planet called Vulcan."

Rose laughed at the story, replying, "Well, you had better get us there, one day!"

When he felt himself slipping away, the Doctor leaned in and kissed Rose on the lips, cutting off her laughter. She willingly gave in to the kiss, knowing that, soon enough, they would have forever in which they could travel the stars.

When the Doctor woke, he began theorizing ways Rose could get back to him, hoping to be able to speed up the process as much as possible.

When Donna entered the console room, she found him pacing back and forth, still trying to come up with a way to get Rose back. It took her a few calls of 'Oi, Spaceman!' to finally pull him from his musings, but when she finally did, Donna insisted upon getting some answers.

"What are you plannin', Doctor?"

He knew that he should not have been startled by the way she got straight to business, but he was, even after a few weeks of traveling with the wonderful human. "What do you mean, Donna?"

"I mean, what are you up to that's got you so deep in thought that I have to call your name four times before you look my way? It's rude to ignore people, you know."

The Doctor knew he had to tell Donna, he would be spending far too much time trying to get Rose back for him not to tell Donna. Besides, if he told her, hopefully she would offer to help him get her back, knowing how important Rose was to him and all. But, in a rare event that had only happened a handful of times in his exceedingly long life, the Doctor found he was unable to get words out of his mouth. He _knew_ that he had to tell Donna, he _wanted_ to tell her, but he was also afraid of what would happen when he said the words. He was afraid that he would not only sound crazy but that if he did try to bring Rose back, he would find that not only was it truly impossible, but that his dreams of her had also been nothing more than dreams.

At length, when Donna was running out of patience, he found his voice once more. "Donna, I've been having these dreams for a while now, but they are the most wonderful dreams, and I'm fairly certain that they are more than just dreams..."

When he had finished with his story, Donna was practically speechless, but managed to offer, "So, what have you come up with so far?"

Grinning like the madman he probably was, the Doctor said, "Well, I figure that if I poked around with the TARDIS to try and find a weak spot in the barriers between the universes... Probably Bad Wolf Bay, since that's where my message showed up...."

At this point, Donna spoke up, not really understanding what he was trying to say. "You know what? I think I'm going to make you a cuppa, you know, so you can think better."

As she walked towards the kitchen, she heard the Time Lord muttering to himself under his breath, not even pausing to breathe, letting his respiratory bypass take care of his need for oxygen as he put his manic thoughts to words.

**TBC...**


	5. Part The Fifth

**Searching Souls**

_Part the Fifth_

When Rose woke up, she immediately began trying to figure out how to get back, preferably without destroying two universes in the first thought was to find a loophole, but of course she had no clue what exactly would cause the two universes to collapse, so she could not figure out how to avoid it.

Rose was thoughtfully silent all morning until Mickey came into her office.

"Rose, there you are! I need you to-" he stopped short when he saw the expression plastered across her face. "You've found a way back, haven't you?" He knew Rose well, had known her sicne she was a baby, and there were times when he could read her like a book.

She smiled sheepishly before answering slightly timidly, "Well... not exactly, but I think I've got it figured out..."

When she was faced with an expectant look, Rose motioned for Mickey to sit down before elaborating, "I'm gonna need your help developing the tech, 'cause I've got this idea... He said that crossing between his universe and this one would destroy both of 'em, but what if we went through the back door? What if we got back to 'is universe by going through another one?"

Mickey, to his credit, did not look at Rose as though she had gone mad, nor did he _think_ she had gone mad. He just wanted to know a few details. "What about Jackie? And Pete? And Tony?" He paused for a moment before voicing his final concern, "What about me?"

Rose looked down for a moment before replying, "You all _belong_ in this universe, you've all got lives and families and people to replace. Me? I'm replacing a _dog_, and I've got a Time Lord waiting for me in the next universe over."

Mickey nodded in resignation before asking cheerily, "What can I do to help?"

Rose smiled thankfully as she replied, "Well, you and I both know that I don't know heads nor tails of most of this alien tech, so I was hoping you could help me to come up with it..."

Just then, Rose's secretary, Martha, stuck her head through the doorway to inform her, "Ms. Tyler, Mr. Tyler has something he would like to discuss with you in his office."

"Thank you, Martha, Rose replied, getting up, "tell him I'll be right over."

She walked across her office before turning back to Mickey, who was still in the chair. "You comin'? You and I both know that anything 'e's going to tell me he can say to you too."

As the two made their way up to the top office, they continued to discuss possible ways to cross the dimensions, editing their conversation quite a bit so that anyone who happened to overhear them would not be able to figure out what they were going on about.

When they entered the grand room, Pete was waiting for them, not bothering to question Mickey's reasons for joining them. "Rose, Mickey, we've got a problem. Our astronomers have discovered that, well... The stars are going out all over the place, stars that we have been watching for thousands of years."

"What do you mean, 'the stars are going out'? D' you mean they've burnt themselves out ages ago and its only just reaching us now?"

"No, Rose, I mean they aren't even dimming and then going out. Every night we're spotting more and more that are just not there anymore. Look," Pete handed both Rose and Mickey pictures of the sky. "This was Orion two days ago." He pointed on the picture before motioning for them to switch to the next image. "This one was taken of the same region of space just last night." Looking at the picture, Rose and Mickey both noted that the stars that had formed the warrior's 'belt' were gone.

Mickey, shocked, wondered aloud, "But... How is that _possible_?"

Pete shook his head slowly, murmuring more to himself than his two companions, "I don't know... I just don't know..."

For the next three weeks, Rose had two main projects: figuring out why the stars were disappearing and getting back to the Doctor's universe. She spent all of her free time in the Torchwood archives, searching for some piece of alien tech that would help her to jump between universes.

oXo

When she found herself once more in her Doctor's arms, Rose could hardly have been happier. Well, she might have been happier if he was not merely in her dream. And if something terrible was not going on in her universe.

After their initial hug, Rose tenderly kissed the Time Lord on the lips before speaking in all seriousness, "Doctor, there's a problem."

Immediately, he straightened up, fixing Rose with his intense gaze and asking, "What? What's wrong? Did something go wrong with the baby?"

When he paused to take an unnecessary breath, Rose cut in, "No, nothing's wrong with the baby, we're both fine." A look of relief flashed across his face, only to disappear completely at her next words. "Doctor, its something much worse than that. I think the whole universe is in danger."

"Rose, you have to tell me, what's going on over there?"

"Every night, our astronomers are discovering more and more stars that are just gone. It has been a few weeks since we first realized something was up. and already hundreds of stars are gone."

The frown upon his beautiful face deepened as the Doctor began to pace, muttering to himself about the impossibility of it all. After a full minute, he turned to the love of his life once more and spoke, sounding utterly lost, "But... How? Was there any unusual alien activity in your universe? Any hint that this was going to happen?"

"No, nothing. Everything has been quiet for a few months, now, no impending invasions or tour ships passing by and drawing attention to the life out in space. It's almost like the other races have been focusing on something else... On whatever has been causing the stars to go out."

The Doctor smiled proudly at Rose, exclaiming, "Rose Tyler, you are brilliant! You've got to contact another race out there, out about the stars... But who to ask..." The two stood in thoughtful silence for a while before the Doctor asked, "Has your Earth been visited by the Slitheen family?"

"They weren't in the records, no..."

"Perfect! Contact the main government of Raxacoricofallapatorius asking for help, the people on your Earth will have no reason not to trust them, and they're a race that you have experience with, you know most of them are friendly."

"Will do," Rose nodded, making a mental note to contact the Raxacoricofallapatorians for help as soon as she got in the next day.

"Now," the Doctor began, his mood much brighter than it had been only two seconds before, "I don't think there's much more we can do with the current information, do you?" When she shook her head, the Time Lord continued, "Since we can do no more about it, I'm going to take a leaf out of Donna's book and leave it be for now."

Rose laughed, grinning, "I think that's the first time in your whole life that you've done that!"

"Hey! What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you can't tell me that every time I caught you 'fixing' the TARDIS, she really needed work done!" He opened his mouth to make an indignant response, but she continued, "There were even times when she tried electrocuting you , but you _still_ tried to fiddle with her wiring!"

At the sight of her tongue poking through her grin, the Doctor shot Rose a grin back before exclaiming, "Speaking of old times, guess who I ran into the other day?"

"I dunno, who did you see?" Rose had to hold in a laugh at the way the Time Lord jumped from subject to subject, much like a child with ADD would.

Though it should have been impossible, the Doctor's grin widened as he exclaimed, "The Ood! Remember them? Remember, the space station on that impossible little planet?"

"Of course I remember that, I thought I lost you for good that day." Though she smiled, there was a look in Rose's eyes, one that told of how much she had worried and of the freshness of the pain.

He grabbed her hand and flashed her a tender smile. "But you didn't, though. We made it through that; we can make it through anything."

He pulled her into a hug then, and the two continued to speak of old times, to laugh at their stupid mistakes and to smile at everything they had done right until it was time for them to wake up once more.

* * *

_I have to thank you guys for putting up with me and my inconsistant updates. Seriously, I'm sorry about the delay. I'll try to get the next one up before next week, it's been easier to write since watching_ The End of Time_ pt.1. It's just been so epic, and I've just been... inspired. Please take the time to review and tell me what you think!_


	6. Part The Sixth

_*cowers* I know, I'm a terrible person! Please forgive me for the wait... I have no legitimate excuse, but will try to get the next chapter out sooner.  
**Disclaimer**: I own Doctor Who. Captain Jack Harkness is also secretly a virgin._

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**Searching Souls**

_Part the Sixth_

Rose walked into the office, her Mum's hand grasped tightly in her own for support.

"Rose, love, I know you're emotional right now, but remember: you don't have to do this today; we can always re-schedule."

Rose knew that Jackie could sense her inner turmoil, not only was it just one of those motherly instincts, the emotions were probably written upon her face. "No, Mum, I'm okay, really. I... I just had it in my head that he would _be_ here by now, you know? I always thought we'd be doing this together..." With the confession, tears welled up in the pregnant woman's eyes, which she hastily wiped away with the hand that was _not_ crushing her mother's.

The doctor smiled when she entered the office with her Mum, and Rose could tell that this man was kind, even though they had not been properly introduced yet.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Owen Harper," the man introduced himself, holding out his hand.

"Rose Tyler. It's nice to meet you." Rose shook the proffered hand, doing her best to act cheerful, though her thoughts were on _her_ Doctor.

The medic's gaze turned to the older woman, who promptly introduced herself in that way of hers; the one that told everyone that she was a force to be reckoned with. "I'm Jackie Tyler, Rose's mum." The look in her eyes clearly said, 'I'm here to make sure you don't tell anyone about this, or screw it up any other way.'

"So," he began, getting right down to business, "about how far along would you say you are?"

Rose thought for a moment, knowing that by human standards she looked about three months, give or take. "Um... I'd say I'm about five and a half months along..."

Dr. Harper did his best to keep some of the surprise off of his face, reminding himself that he _did_ work for Torchwood, and had seen stranger things. Still smiling in the friendliest way he could, he continued his routine inquiry, "Have there been any other abnormalities in the pregnancy? Anything a different doctor noted during your last appointment?"

Jackie cut in, offended, "What do you mean, _other_ abnormalities? What's so abnormal about her being five and a half months along? Are you saying she shouldn't be that far along?"

Rose, seeing that her mother was being just a tad over-protective and a bit touchy, intervened. "Mum, calm down, its okay." Turning her attention to the doctor in front of her, Rose informed him, "Well... I actually haven't had any appointments before today... I was kinda busy with work an' all that..." The blond did not add that she had been prolonging the appointment in the hopes that her Time Lord would show up, so that they could go through it together.

The medic smiled in a good-natured manner before turning to his chart to write something down. "So, Ms. Tyler, would it be safe for me to assume that there are extraterrestrial circumstances involved with this pregnancy?"

"I guess you could say that, considerin' the father is a Time Lord..." Rose trailed off, switching to autopilot, answering his questions without taking her mind off of the alien who had stolen her heart with just one word. She recalled the day he blew up her job, induced an adrenaline rush within her the likes of which she had not felt in years, informed her that there were aliens in the city, and then told her to forget all about him. Needless to say, it had not worked.

Rose was so lost in her own little world that she squeaked in surprise when the cool gel was spread over her stomach, and Dr. Harper began the ultrasound. She found herself staring at the screen with anticipation, along with her mother and the doctor. Soon, a beat was sounded, a steady rhythm that Dr. Harper identified as the heartbeat.

Dr. Harper made a comment, but Rose did not hear it. Her mind was focused on the double heartbeats that the machine was steadily pulsing out. She glanced at her mother, who had see the ecstatic look on her daughter's face, and quickly figured out the cause. It was a double beat. _Double_. As in the_ two hearts_ that were producing the rhythm.

Rose knew, in that moment, that it was quite possible that the double heartbeat was due to her carrying twins, but something deep inside of her told her this was not true, aside from the fact that she should, in all rights, be much more pregnant-looking if she were carrying twins. Even if they were Time Lord twins that apparently developed much more slowly than human babies.

Jackie knew the look on her daughter's face. She had seen the expression numerous times. The expression had shown up when Rose received the Bronze in gymnastics, although it had primarily been over shadowed by her disappointment at not winning, as well as the first time Rose took Jimmy Stones home. The joyous look appeared more and more frequently after Rose met the Doctor, surfacing every time she stopped by to tell Jackie about some new planet.

The older Tyler smiled at her daughter, knowing that the two heartbeats was the best news she could have heard all day.

Dr. Harper did not notice the change in atmosphere that the double heartbeat created. Instead, he focused his gaze on the screen, frowning as he tried to locate the second fetus. "From the heartbeats, it would appear that you are having twins, but I can only see the one fetus..."

Both Tyler women laughed, and Rose explained to the confused medic, "I don't think so, Dr. Harper. You see, Time Lords have two hearts. I'd be willing to guess that I'm havin' only one baby, who is a lot like 'is or 'er father."

"I'll take your word on that, Ms. Tyler. While we're on the subject, would you like to know the gender of the baby? Or would you like to wait?"

Rose smiled, knowing that it was her chance to win the argument she had been having with the Doctor. "I'd like to know."

After about a minute of carefully moving around the instruments and glancing at the screen, Dr. Harper smiled at the young blond, announcing, "Congratulations, Ms. Tyler, you're going to be having a baby boy."

Grinning, Rose looked to her mum and said slightly smugly, "I knew it. I even told 'im that we were gonna have a boy, but 'e just kept insisting that it would be a girl. I knew I was right, though."

Jackie smiled at her ecstatic daughter. Since the Battle of Canary Wharf, Rose had never really smiled, she had never really seemed happy. Recently, however, Rose had been acting so much more joyful and the only explanation was her pregnancy.

Ten minutes later the two women left the medical office, Rose heading off to find Mickey so they could continue with their work, and Jackie to find Pete, since she was already at Torchwood.

Rose went straight to Mickey's office where he was waiting, a grin on his face to match the one that remained on her own. For a moment she stood in the doorway, trying to figure out why her friend could be smiling like that. Then it hit her. "You didn't?" When his smile only widened, Rose's own grin grew, and she exclaimed, "You seriously got them working? After all this time, we can start heading back?"

Mickey nodded, knowing that the journey would not be nearly as simple as it was sounding. They still had to stabilize the teleport so that it would work across the universes and be able to take them back to their current universe easily.

"I just got it working ten minutes ago, at most. But I think I still need a day to make sure it's fully stabilized and to test it out... How did your appointment go?" Rose had to smile at the genuine curiosity in his voice; it was a relief to her that he had stopped trying to be anything more than friends not long after she left with the Doctor.

Rose knew that her excitement was etched upon her face, so she was quick to inform her friend, "It's gonna be a boy, Mickey. An' do you know what the best part is?" When Mickey shook his head with a smile, she continued, "He's got two hearts! He's just like 'is father, a Time Lord."

Her joy was contagious, and Mickey knew that even if he had harbored feelings for her, he would have been happy for her. As it was, he had some lingering fears. "Are you sure you can safely teleport? I mean, safely for you and the baby?"

Rose smiled, confessing, "I honestly don't know. But I do know that if I don't try to get back to the Doctor, there was absolutely no point to our past months' work. And if I can't get back to 'im, I don't know what I'll do. Everythin' I've been doing here has been about trying to get back..."

Mickey nodded in understanding. "I know, Rose. I can see how much you miss him, and I know he misses you too. How could he not?"

Rose heard the sadness in Mickey's voice at his rhetorical question, and knew that she would be giving up a great friend when she went back to her Doctor. Though she knew she would make no more progress than she had before, Rose still offered, "Mickey, you know you can come back to our universe if you want, right? You've put so much time into developing these dimension jumpers, you might as well get to use one for yourself..."

Mickey sighed, having had this discussion quite a few times during the months they spent working together, recalibrating the dimension jumps to serve their purposes. He had taken plenty of time over the months to consider going back to his original universe, and had come to a decision not long after Rose had suggested it. "You know I can't, Rose. You know I've got to look after my Gran, I'm all she's got."

Rose sighed before picking up one of the yellow devices, asking for the umpteenth time in the past few months, "Do you really think this will work?" The hope was clear in her voice, as well as the doubt. She fiddled with the disk, examining it closely. They had made various changes to the dimension hoppers they had used before, leaving them more compact and also able to function as teleports, since neither Rose nor Mickey knew where they would land.

Mickey shook his head slowly. "I don't know, Rose, I don't know if it will work or not, but I do hope so. I don't like the idea of you movin' a whole universe away, but it's better than havin' you moping about all the time, wishing you were back home."

oXo

When Rose got back to her desk an hour later, there was a note informing her that a message from Raxacoricofallapatorius had been received and forwarded to her. When she played the message, Rose did not know whether to be relieved or more worried. Shortly put, the message said that the people of Raxacoricofallapatorius had noticed the stars disappearing as well, as had many other civilizations around them. The whole universe was noticing the changes in the sky, and none of them knew the cause.

oXo

When the wind whipped through her hair and the salty air filled her nose once more, Rose ran to her Doctor, kissing him with all the love she could muster. It had been a week since she and Mickey got the dimension cannons working properly, and had worked almost non-stop trying to get back to her home universe to no avail.

Just seeing her Doctor, even if it was in a dream, gave Rose a new hope for her journey. Holding him in her arms, feeling his lips beneath her own, all gave Rose a reason to get back – besides the little boy still growing within her.

Grinning from ear to ear, the Doctor returned the kiss, happy as ever to have his love in his arms.

When the two pulled apart, Rose asked the Doctor a question that had been bugging her since the appointment a week ago. "Doctor, how long is a typical Gallifreyan pregnancy?"

He paused to think for a moment before answering, "About twelve months, why do you ask?"

"Well, considerin' I'm almost six months along, I figured your people must have had longer pregnancies. Either that or our son is _tiny_."

The Doctor laughed, gazing at his love and noticing all the small signs that pointed to her pregnancy, as well as the more obvious ones. She seemed to be glowing, and if that weren't obvious enough, her stomach was beginning to protrude, her breasts were growing, and when he had kissed her, he could taste all the extra hormones that her body was producing to help their child grow.

"Rose, why did you say 'our _son_'? I thought I told you we were going to have a girl…"

"Well, accordin' to the doctor today, we're havin' a boy. I hate to say I told you so, but... Well, actually, it feels good to say it, so, I told you so!" The Doctor grinned in response when Rose poked her tongue out from between her teeth, the dead giveaway any time she was teasing someone. After a moment, she told him the other piece of news. "You want to know what else I found out today, Doctor?"

"I always do."

"Not only is our son developing much more slowly than a normal human baby - we already knew that, but... - he also has two heartbeats." She said it in all seriousness, watching the expressions that danced across the face of her love as he realized just what the statement meant.

"You mean... You mean our son will be a Time Lord?" The astonishment written so plainly upon his face told Rose that he had not allowed himself to entertain the notion before; he had not allowed himself to hope for such a thing.

The blond nodded enthusiastically, knowing exactly what it meant. "We're going to have a little Time Lord on our hands, and he'll always be there to keep you company, even after I'm gone." She knew that she was broaching a serious topic, one that neither she nor the Doctor really wanted to think about, but both knew that they must.

"If he's really a Time Lord, he'll be living long after I'm gone." The amount of sadness and resignation in his voice pulled at Rose's heartstrings, and she knew she had to cheer him up.

"Well, then, we'll just have to make sure he's got some siblings to keep him company, won't we?" She grinned as she spoke, poking her tongue out between her teeth and enjoying the beautiful smile that she received in return.

The conversation turned to different topics after that, with the Doctor recounting his adventures and Rose telling him all about the different universes she had visited in her journey back home. When it was time for them to part once more, the Doctor pulled Rose in for a kiss that did not do his longing justice, but clearly showed his love his affections. She returned the kiss with interest, and neither one was happy to find themselves awake in their beds moments later.

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_A/N: I thought I'd tell you that there's a **poll** on my profile, and that if you would please vote, it would really help me with this story.  
I actually checked Wikipedia to see about Time Lords being born with two hearts or not... It would appear to be debatable._

_For less than the cost of a ticket to the movies you can make sure that people continue to read _Searching Souls_. All I want is for all the people who read this chapter to review. With your reviews, we'll keep the monkey in my brain that writes these stories happy. Remember, call _1-800-Review-Now_ or click the green button to automatically connected. Our operators are standing by.  
__(stolen from R.A. Pointless)_


	7. Part The Seventh

_A/N: I have decided that I will update every pre-Tuesday, if not sooner, to be consistent, and to brighten up these dreary pre-Tuesdays. :)  
_

_**Disclaimer:**_** Maybe in one of these parallel universes I might own _Doctor Who_, but in this one, sadly, I do not.**_  
_

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**Searching Souls**

_Part the Seventh_

The Doctor sighed, staring at the skies of Cryotine IV, wondering when his life had turned so... _domestic_. He almost voiced the thought to Donna, but said companion was a few stalls over, bartering for some trinket. Besides, he already knew that she would laugh at the idea that his current life was domestic.

Instead, he pondered the circumstances surrounding the new found domesticity in his life. Before, he had shuddered at the thought of meeting his companions' parents, and yet, for the third time in a row, he had done so. He still feared the mothers, a habit that had arisen from Jackie Tyler, and her famous slaps.

He had even found himself content with not getting caught up in danger on every planet he visited. In fact, the past two places he had taken Donna, he had managed to stay out of trouble for the entire trip - a new record.

The Doctor knew that such little things would not amount to much to anyone else, but to him they made all the difference. They were the sorts of things he had protested so much when Rose was traveling with him, always writing them off as too domestic.

He didn't even want to consider how much more domestic the fact that he was going to be a father soon made his life. The Time Lord had not entertained thoughts on being a parent for at least a century, and then he found out he was going to re-learn all the parenting tricks - the hard way.

The Doctor frowned when a thought came to him. His son, if the doctor in Pete's world had been correct, would outlive him. If his son were truly half-Gallifreyan, then his lifespan would be much longer than a human's, and could possibly even regenerate, meaning that even after he, the Doctor, had died for the final time, his son would still be roaming the skies, alone but for the Captain who would do well to stay away from the young Time Lord.

The thought of Captain Jack meeting his son made the Doctor frown, knowing that, unless he looked like a child, Jack would flirt with the young alien - until it was made clear who his parents were.

Thinking about it all, the Doctor was surprised at how well he was taking it all. The woman he loved more than life was trapped in another universe, pregnant with his child, fighting to get back to him. He began to wonder if he should be going mad with worry, rather than touring the galaxies with Donna.

But, he knew, he would be no use to Rose if he were out of his mind with worry. Instead, he was constantly running equations in his head, trying to figure out if it were possible for him to go straight to her universe - without almost killing the TARDIS again.

The longer the Doctor thought about how to get Rose back, the more he realized how empty his life had become without her. Sure, he still traveled the stars, but it was with fear of what would happen if he ever stopped running. Of what he would see. Of what he would become.

He was the Lonely God, the last of his kind. But, if his strange new dreams were true, he would be so no longer.

The Time Lord was pulled out of his musings when he heard Donna shouting, "Oi! Martian boy! Are you coming?"

With that, he ran after his companion, still deep in thought, but ready to do more exploring, because, what else could he do?

oXoXo

Rose knew she would never grow used to the feeling that came along with jumping. The feeling of being torn apart and then roughly stitched back together, all in about three seconds. The first few times she jumped, she had vomited shortly after landing; now she just felt a little nauseous, but it passed quickly.

The blond looked around, searching for clues that could tell her where in the (parallel) world she had landed. Not too far off in the distance she could see the remains of Canary Wharf - this universe's Torchwood had fallen too, then.

She knew that there was a good chance a Rose Tyler already existed in this new universe., and therefore could run into herself on the street. But then again, this could be _her_ universe - there were no zeppelins in the sky.

As she walked the streets, however, it became apparent that she was not in her home universe, either. Instead of the green she was used to, Rose found varying shades of purple in the tree leaves as well as the grass. Passing posters, it also appeared that there was no Parliament in this universe - the posters suggested that the Queen had complete control.

The traveler walked throughout London in the strange universe, the feeling that she had no business being there intensifying with every difference she noticed.

Traffic lights were blue, pink, and purple; people drove on the wrong side of the road - like they did in America; she had yet to pass _anyone_ who sounded like they were from her London...

From the snippets of conversations she managed to catch, Rose noticed a name popping up with increasing regularity - Mr. Tyler. Frowning to herself, even though she knew Tyler must be a common name, Rose bought a newspaper from a nearby vendor, and was shocked to see her father's face plastered on the cover for inventing a soda that was the next "Coke" or "Pepsi", which meant he was buying a mansion somewhere. The shock to her, however, was when she flipped to page A12 for the rest of the story, only to see herself staring out. Granted, the Rose in the paper had darker hair and siblings a whole lot closer to her own age.

For some reason, though she knew it was the wrong universe and knew she should continue with her search, Rose felt the need to explore some more. It was a feeling that she had first felt while traveling with the Doctor; the need to find out what was going on in this new world; to experience the strange new place.

She ended up taking a rather roundabout route to where she knew the Powell Estates to be, noticing similarities and differences in this new Earth as she went. Henrick's was right where she remembered, although she did not know if this was because it had never been blown up or because it had been re-built. When she got to where she knew her first home to have been, Rose grinned at the sight of the buildings, still standing. It was comforting, somehow, to see sights she knew, even in a universe filled with things she didn't.

Looking up at the sky, free of clouds, Rose knew it was time to move on; this was not her home universe. and she did not belong - there was already a Rose Tyler in this universe.

Although she knew it was pointless - it had not worked before, Rose pulled out her mobile, hitting speed dial number 1, just to see if it would connect, to see if there was a TARDIS in this universe, with the Doctor in it.

To her great surprise, it rang, and she was startled even more when a gruff voiced answered, obviously wary himself, "Who's there?"

Tentatively, hoping that she the right number, Rose asked, "Doctor? Is that you?"

She could hear the suspicion in his voice as the response came, "Who is this and how did you get this number?"

She had been hanging on his every word, not wanting to miss a single syllable uttered in the Northern accent that she had not heard in years. "Doctor? Is it really you?"

"Who the hell are you and who gave you this number?" The distrust in his voice was obvious, and Rose knew it must have been shortly after the Time War for him.

Knowing that he would probably hang up on her if she didn't answer soon, she took a deep breath before starting. "My name is Rose Tyler. I used to travel with you."

"I think I would know who I have and haven't traveled with. Who are you really?"

The anger and distrust in his voice, along with the hidden hurt, tore Rose's heart up, and she hastened to explain. "Look, I used to travel with you, really. Just... in a parallel universe... I got trapped in one that's not my own, and have been trying to find my way back to you."

"And why am I supposed to believe someone who magically rang up my magnificent ship?"

Knowing that she was probably interfering with events, Rose tried to figure out how to convince him; to keep him talking so that she could continue to hear the voice that she thought was gone to her forever. "I've met Sarah Jane Smith in my universe. You left her behind, just like you did all of your other companions, and she wasted twenty years waiting for you to come back."

"Look, I don't know how you know so much about me, but if you're telling the truth, there's no reason I would drop you off in the wrong universe. It's not like you can easily travel between them anymore..." He trailed off, his voice growing more sullen at the end, reminding Rose of the times she got him talking about his planet or the mysterious Time Wars.

"It was a mistake," she began, knowing that soon Pete would have the techs pull her back; she had spent far too long in this universe. "He didn't mean to leave me there!" The emotion was welling up in her throat, the hormones getting the better of her. "Look, I have to go, this isn't my universe, and I have a whole lot more to go through if I want any chance of getting back home."

She closed the phone before the Time Lord had the chance to respond, not knowing what to think of the situation as she opened the dimension cannon, pressed 0, closed it again, and then smacked the button, bracing herself for the journey back. Just as she had a hundred times before, Rose felt herself being torn apart and then messily stitched back together as she was pulled across the void.

Landing with an "oomph!", Rose opened her eyes to see the whole team of techs, waiting for news on this newest universe.

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_A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter and who voted in the poll. If you haven't voted yet, it's still open, I want some more opinions! Thanks also to everyone who submitted suggestions, even if I didn't reply, I read them all, and am seriously considering my options.  
If anyone has any requests for universes or for adventures for the Doctor to have, or anything else that you think should be in this story, just tell me in a review! ;)_

_*TRD*  
_


	8. Part The Eighth

_A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed and voted, it means a lot that you guys take the time to give me your input. The poll is still open, and I really will go with whatever choice wins. :) It's a shorter chapter this time, I know, but I've been busy with school and trying to get a summer job and lots of other stuff, so... forgive me? And don't forget to review!!!!  
_**Disclaimer: If I owned Doctor Who, David Tennant would have been forced to stick around for a few more seasons. ;)**

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_Searching Souls_

**Part the Eighth **

"Rose, love, I know you've got to keep everything quiet, working for Torchwood an' all, but I'm your mother. I deserve to know what my daughter has been doing that will cause her to leave me eventually."

After a minute Rose sighed, knowing that although she probably would not like it, Jackie deserved to know what she had been doing for the past two months. The problem was, she wasn't quite sure how to explain it. "Look, mum, the process is hard to explain; I'm not even completely sure how most of it works... If you're willing to come in to Torchwood with me, though, I can show you, and Mickey can try to explain."

"Rose, I don't need the fancy scientific explanation for what you're doin', I just want to know in plain English, what you are doing every day when you go to Torchwood." Jackie's voice was kind yet firm, the tone parents typically took on when they were in "no-nonsense" mode, and Rose knew she would not get away with telling her mother complete technobabble that even the Doctor would have needed a minute to fully understand.

Sighing again, Rose decided to say it as simply as she could, "Well, Mickey an' I took the old dimension jumps an' we re-programmed them. For the past two months, Mickey an' I have been jumping through the universes tryin' to get back home."

The elder Tyler frowned, concern welling up inside her. "I remember those things, not a very pleasant way to travel... Are you sure it's safe? You know, for the baby?"

"After the first jump, Pete made me visit Dr. Harper to make sure everythin' was okay before I could jump again. Now I have a checkup at the end of every week, and Dr. Harper says the baby is fine. I think it's 'cause he's half Time Lord. He's meant to travel the stars; this is just not as stylish as TARDIS travel."

Although some of her fears had been assuaged, Jackie still frowned slightly, concerned, as always, for her daughter. "When you find 'im, you'd better make 'im bring you back so I can say a proper goodbye." The unspoken, 'and so I can slap him for all the months of misery he put you through' was not missed by Rose. The underlying threat was not the part of the sentence that captured Rose's attention, though. Instead, she focused on the 'when' that had been uttered, the simple word that gave her so much hope, rather than the 'if' everyone else used when talking about her getting back to the Doctor.

"You know I'd never leave without sayin' goodbye - I remember what happened the last time I did that." Rose smiled to herself at the memory of her first Doctor - and the trouble he'd gotten them both into by landing twelve months late.

"Well, when you do come back to say goodbye, you'd better make sure 'e doesn't mix up the dates again - if I have to go through the pain of thinking you're dead again - and my grandson too - he'll get more than just a slap from me."

Despite the fearsome promise in her mother's words, Rose had to smile, knowing that her mother would keep her word, should such events transpire, and wondering just how the Doctor would react, having been safe from Jackie Tyler and her slaps for who-knows-how-long.

xOxoxOx

Pulling out the book she read to her brother every night, Rose wondered, yet again, why she was doing it. She knew Tony could not understand the stories, and yet she felt as though she needed to do it. It was like she needed to tell her stories to _someone_, and neither her mum nor Pete had the time or wish to listen anymore.

Opening up the _Journal of Highly Unlikely Things_ (it had started off as Impossible, then switched to Improbable, and then even that had been crossed out), Rose found the page she had marked the night before, and began to read to the youngest Tyler.

"Although it's difficult to measure time in the TARDIS, the Doctor and I had been sitting in the vortex for a few days, since he was tinerin' with somethin' or other. When he was finally satisfied with the result (or had given up, I never could tell) he picked our destination: Australia. I'm still not sure whether or not he meant to land us right in the middle of the Great Kangaroo Revolt of 2442, but either way we ended up hopping for our lives."

When she had finished the tale, complete with hand gestures and a new voice for each character, Rose placed the ribbon on the page and closed the book, looking down at her sleeping brother, not yet old enough to walk, let alone run. She wondered, absently, if his dreams, much like her own, were filled with bigger-on-the-inside ships, leather jackets, northern accents, and desperate escapes from angry mobs.

Her thoughts wandered to the day Jackie and Pete had found out they were having a boy. They had all been worrying that, since there had not yet been a Rose Tyler born in Pete's universe, another Rose would be born. As soon as they were told otherwise, everyone had breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking over at the clock, Rose knew it was almost time for her to get to bed herself, she was supposed to jump again tomorrow, after all.

xOxoxOx

Looking over at his beloved, the Doctor knew that it was plain as day to everyone in Pete's World that she was pregnant, if the expected mood swings had not tipped everyone off to the fact ages ago. She looked about five or six months along by human standards, but from a Gallifreyan perspective it was more like seven or eight. Well, seven or eight according to his near-perfect memory, anyways.

Running to the blond, the Time Lord engulfed her in an embrace that spoke volumes about the pain he'd suffered since they last met. Just from their kiss, Rose could tell his hopes had risen and then crashed back down again, just as they had with the Master, a story that had taken quite a bit of coaxing for him to explain.

This time, he simply held her tight, needing to feel her, needing to feel the life growing inside of her; the proof that soon he would no longer be the last of his kind.

"Doctor?" Her voice was laced with concern, "Doctor, what's wrong?"

Not able to say anything, the Doctor simply pulled her tighter, resting his head on her shoulder and breathing in her soothing scent.

"C'mon, you can tell me. What happened?"

The only response was a deep sigh that sounded quite a bit like her name, but she couldn't be sure whether or not her ears were deceiving her.

After a minute, the Time Lord loosened his grip and she pulled back so that she could face him. "Doctor," she murmured, love and concern clear in her voice, "I'm here for you, alright? But I can't help you unless you tell me what happened."

"I-I couldn't... I couldn't save her, Rose, I couldn't do anything..." The pain was clear in his voice, and Rose knew it was a tribute to how close they were that he was telling her about the problem, rather than changing the subject abruptly to something lighter as he had in the earlier days of their travels.

"Doctor, listen to me, I'm sure there was nothing you could do. If you had been able to, you would have saved her. Days when everybody lives are hard to come by, you know." Drawing him back into her arms, Rose continued in soothing tones, not betraying the worry eating away at her, "Can you tell me who 'she' is, Doctor? Can you tell me the whole story?"

Pulling himself together, the Doctor pulled away a little and began to tell Rose the story. "Donna and I - well, Martha helped, but it was mostly Donna and I - well, actually it was mostly Donna, but anyways, we had just defeated the Sontarans and stopped them from poisoning everyone on Earth to make a cloning planet, when the TARDIS decided Martha needed one last trip. She decided to send us to Messaline, a colony planet, where this war was going on between humans and Hath..."

When he had finished his somber tale, Rose kissed the Doctor before murmuring, "Oh, Doctor, it's going to be okay, I promise. You and I both know that the pain gets easier with time." After a moment, Rose tried to lighten the atmosphere a little, "At least you didn't have to worry about Reapers coming if you saved her."

Smiling a little, the Doctor whispered, "Oh, Rose, I don't know what I'd do without you..."

Still trying to receive his trademark grin, Rose continued to tease, "Well, for starters, you'd still have big ears and a leather coat." As she aimed her cheeky grin at him, the blond was graced with a view of his own smile, and she knew he would heal.

Instead of continuing to talk, however, the Doctor brought his lips down upon hers and did his very best to forget about his troubles as he kissed her. The kiss was deep and slow, burning with all the intensity that fueled the Oncoming Storm.

Rose returned the kiss with the same amount of ardor and passion, knowing that it was not only what she wanted, but also what he needed.

Soon enough, if all went well, they would be back in the TARDIS together, heading off on another adventure, just like they always had.


	9. Part The Ninth

_After about a month, I'm back! At least this chapter is the longest yet! Please R&R and there's a new POLL on my profile. :)  
_**_Me: K9, do I own Doctor who?  
K9: Negative, mistress._**

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_Searching Souls_

**Part the Ninth**

Rose looked around, blinked a few times, and looked again, but the sight before her eyes did not change.

Black. Everywhere she turned, all she could see was absolute blackness, without even the smallest light glowing in the distance.

Her instincts were screaming at her to leave, to get out before she was swallowed up by the darkness, too, but her time with the Doctor had taught Rose to explore new situations and places; to find out what was really going on. Instead of slamming her hand down on the dimension cannon to go back, Rose pulled a torch out of her bag and turned it on.

Her first thought was that the batteries had died, but when she turned it towards herself, the traveler was faced with a bright light directly in the eyes. Turning the torch back to her surroundings, Rose frowned when the darkness would not be penetrated, as though there was nothing out there _to _see. When she pointed it down to where the ground should be, Rose could see nothing other than her legs and trainer-clad feet, and she was almost completely swallowed by the disconcerting feeling that went hand-in-hand with not knowing what was holding you up.

Knowing that she really should go back, Rose pulled out her phone, as was her ritual, and hit speed-dial number one. She was met with nothing more than static.

Sighing in resignation, Rose set her cannon to taker her back to Pete's World, hitting the button a little harder than was strictly necessary. The now-familiar sensation of being torn apart and hastily put back together ran through her, and when she opened her eyes, Rose was greeted with the plain white walls of the "Jump Room" as everyone on the project had fondly nicknamed it.

After putting away the equipment, Rose picked up the paperwork she would have to fill out, knowing that Ianto, Head Archivist, would be none too pleased if she put if off for too long. He liked things done right and on time, and Rose knew everyone would want to know about the darkness. They had never encountered anything like it before, not on any of her or Mickey's previous jumps, and she was almost positive that Tosh and some of the other scientists would be sent back to check it out.

o0o0o0o

"What do you mean by 'nothin',' Rose? There had to have been _somethin'_ out there!"

"I'm sorry, Mickey, I don't know how else to explain it, you can go see for yourself, but it was like there was nothing there to see, even if there had been light." Rose knew that it would be difficult to convince people, but she could think of no other way to explain the strange world. She knew that Mickey was trying to be patient with her, and the circles under his eyes betrayed the number of nights he had spent worrying about his Gran. Pete was doing his best to keep the woman happy and healthy, but she was growing old, and no one could save her from that.

"You know Pete is probably going to stop all new jumps until this has been 'fully investigated,' right, Rose? He's not going to just ignore this and move on until we figure out what's happening to the universes."

Rose knew she sounded desperate, but she _had_ to get back to the Doctor. "What if the answer is out there in some other universe? What if we never figure out what's happening?"

"Rose, calm down, you and I both know you'll make your way back to him, and when you do, you can make him save the day, just like he always does, okay?"

The blond smiled gratefully at her friend, knowing that she would get nowhere if she kept second-guessing herself. The Doctor always knew what he was doing (or at least he acted like he did), and she knew that going about this with his attitude would get her much farther than with her current one.

"You've got to have faith, Rose. I know you and I know the Doctor, and I know neither of you will stop until you're back in the right universe."

Rose grinned at her lifelong friend. "What would I do without you, Mickey?"

Mickey grinned right back, knowing that Rose didn't need an answer.

o0o0o0o

It was wrong, all wrong. Rose knew it wasn't her universe; couldn't be, not with the body leaving in that ambulance.

She sped down the street at blazing speed, needing to know if she was right about the occupant of the car blazing off into the night. As she passed the ginger woman walking away, Rose skidded to a stop, turning and grasping the woman's arm for stability as she did so. "What happened?" she asked, beginning to panic, "What did they find?" Catching her breath, the blond tried not to scare the poor woman too badly, "Sorry, did they find someone?"

The ginger woman frowned, bewildered by this stranger's behavior, as she answered in a tone that expressed her bewilderment, "I dunno, a bloke called the Doctor, or something."

Panic raced through Rose as she pressed for more information, "Where is he?"

There is palpable remorse in the woman's voice as she speaks, but it's a detached sort of remorse, generic and not what Rose needs to hear. "They took him away. He's dead."

Rose stared at the woman in disbelief for a minute before the woman continued, empathetic towards the stranger, "I'm sorry, did you know him?... I mean, they didn't say his name; could be any doctor."

Rose, however, knew differently. She was close to tears as she murmured, "I came so far..."

Reaching out towards the traveler, the woman tried to provide some comfort, "I-it could be anyone."

Out of the corner of her eye, Rose noticed something, although she never would have been able to say precisely what it was she was seeing. It was time, she knew, to get some answers. "What's your name?"

The woman seemed surprised at the change in conversation, but answered anyways, "Donna. You?"

Rose bit her lip, knowing she should leave, should keep on searching, but found it impossible to tear her eyes away from the spot just past Donna's shoulder. Distractedly, she evaded the inquiry, "Well, I was just passing by... I shouldn't even be here... This is wrong. This is wrong, so wrong..." Her gaze did not move, and she knew, deep down, that this woman was special; important. "Sorry, what was it? Donna what?"

Donna, however, had noticed the way the blond was staring. "Why do you keep looking at my back?"

"I'm not," Rose dismissed, knowing it would for the best if she just left right then and there.

Donna was growing worried, though. "Yes you are. You keep looking behind me, you're doing it now!" Her voice was rising in panic, "What is it? What's there?"

Rose took the opportunity to run towards the UNIT officers cleaning up when Donna turned frantically to try and see if there was anything on her back. When she reached the group of officers who had remained to clean up, Rose stepped up to a young man and asked, with hardly any hope left in her, "Excuse me, I'm looking for the Doctor. Do you know where he was taken?"

The young man had obviously not been trained in how to deal with situations like the one he was experiencing because he let his face fall for the briefest of moments before it became the mask that all UNIT soldiers wore. "I'm sorry, Miss," the young officer began, acting his part as the soldier, "I don't know who you're talking about. Is there a specific doctor you would like to talk to?"

Rose knew that UNIT would never tell a civilian about the Doctor, but she also _needed_ to know if he really wasn't going to come back this time. "Look," she told the man, "I'm not looking for _a_ doctor. I'm looking for _the_ Doctor. You might 'ave heard of him before. He's a nine hundred and something year-old Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He loves running, can babble on fro hours, and if you ever met him yourself, he would have yelled at you every time you pulled out that gun."

The soldier frowned ever so slightly, confused as to how she knew so much classified information. "If you would wait her just a second, Miss."

As he walked off talking into his walkie-talkie, Rose spotted something looking forgotten on the ground. Picking up the familiar cold piece of metal, Rose's heart sank. He never would have left it behind - unless he was dead or regenerating.

Just after she slipped the sonic screwdriver into her pocket, the soldier came back. "Miss, the Brigadier would like to speak with you back at UNIT base."

"Sorry, who?"

"Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart of the United Nations Intelligence Task-force. He is requesting that you come back to headquarters with me and have a word with him about the man you seek."

Rose grinned at the news; it was a step towards the information she was seeking. "Well, you're going to have to lead the way, I'm afraid I've never been to the UNIT headquarters before." She followed the soldier into a Jeep, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut that told her Donna had been right about the Doctor.

Just by looking at the older man in front of her, Rose could tell that the Doctor had made an impact on his life. The first clue was his lack of a visible gun, as well as the look in his eyes - that of someone who had seen the wonders of the universe, not just the trash that made its way to Earth.

The soldier to her right began the introductions, "Ma'am, this is the Brigadier, Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart of the United Nations Intelligence Task-force. Sir, this is-" he turned to Rose, frowning slightly. "I'm sorry, Miss, I can't recall your name."

With her best 'charming smile', Rose offered her hand to the Brigadier as she spoke, enjoying the first chance she got to use her full title, "I'm Dame Rose Tyler of the Powell Estates. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir."

The older man smiled back, shaking the proffered hand. "The pleasure is all mine, M'lady." Turning to the soldier, he continued, "Thank you, Ross, you many resume your regular duties."

When the young man was gone, Alistair turned to the blond, offering her a seat at his desk, and then sitting himself down opposite her, behind the desk. "Now then, Lady Tyler, I was told you were asking about the Doctor. You even knew his home planet's name, which is quite impressive for a civilian." The good-natured expression was still on his face, but Rose knew he was trying to figure her out.

"Well, Sir, I should say knowing about Gallifrey, Time Lords, and TARDISes is impressive, but you should know I'm no ordinary civilian." There was a confidence in her voice that had been absent for longer than she cared to think, and she continued with pride, "I traveled with the Doctor for three of the best years of my life, and I just want to know if he's really... gone."

Just after the words left her mouth, the phone rang, preempting any reaction from the older man, as well as giving Rose some time to pull herself together after the thought of the Doctor never returning. After a few "yes"'s and "I see"'s, and finally a "send them up when they get here," the Brig turned to Rose with a grim smile. "Well, M'lady, I'm afraid this meeting may have to be postponed to a later time; I have a very important meeting today, and the representatives from Torchwood Three and the press will be on their way up soon."

Rose tried in vain to suppress a shudder at the mention of Torchwood, and her hands clasped protectively around her stomach, but then she relaxed as she remembered what the Doctor had mentioned ages ago. "Torchwood Three? As in Cardiff?" When the Brigadier gave a surprised nod, Rose pressed further, "Is Torchwood Three run by Captain Jack Harkness, by any chance?"

"Let me tell you, Ms. Tyler, you know far too much classified information to be a mere civilian, although the Cardiff lot aren't very discreet about their business." He paused for a moment, the gentle smile never leaving his face. "I don't suppose you have anyone who could confirm that you traveled with the Doctor and are not just another deranged Torchwood agent trying to get revenge for the tragedy of Canary Wharf?"

"Well, if Captain Jack is really on his way up any minute now, he could vouch for me. Well, after he realized that my name doesn't belong on the list of the dead." She smiled at the Brig before exclaiming, "Oh! I also have my key to the TARDIS, still, it should work, if he hasn't changed the locks." As she spoke, she pulled out the chain that always remained around her neck, showing the gleaming silver key.

Subsequently there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Alistair called, rising from his seat and moving back towards the door. Rose, unsure what to do, remained seated, her back to the door. "Ms. Smith, Captain Harkness," he greeted. "If only the circumstances of our meeting together were happier."

"We could always _make_ this meeting happier." Rose could hear the leer in his voice; the voice that she had though she would never hear again.

"Not now, Captain Harkness," Rose heard yet another familiar voice, and she was quite tempted to run over and give both of them impossibly tight hugs. "You know that we have far too much work to get done to waste any time even considering your outlandish propositions."

"Yes, well, I believe I may have forgotten to mention something when I called you up; a rather unexpected turn of events, if you will." The Brigadier began walking back to his desk, motioning towards the blond who had yet to turn around. "M'lady, if you would."

Wondering how the newcomers would take to seeing her, Rose grinned as she stood and turned to greet them. "Hello, Jack; Sarah Jane. It's been too long."

Jack was the first to respond, running forward to pull her into a hug as he exclaimed, "Rosie! I can't believe it's you! You're supposed to be dead!"

Rose's grin only grew as she replied, "Yeah, well, I can hardly believe you're alive, either, so I think we're about even."

Jack pulled her even tighter to him and then quipped, "I don't think so! Look at you! You and the Doc couldn't have started having some _real _fun _before _I left?"

"Oh, like you didn't have any fun while you were traveling with us? What about medieval Japan? You can't tell me you didn't enjoy havin' a good flirt with Takezo Kensei! And what about our dance during the Blitz? Dancing on an invisible spaceship tethered to Big Ben in the middle of an air raid? That doesn't count as fun?" Rose punctuated her small outburst with her cheeky grin, poking her tongue out of her teeth.

Jack grinned at the memories before replying, "Oh Rose, you know I loved our dance, but it would have been _so much more fun if I could have joined you_ and the Doc for a "_dance_"."

Rose laughed once more. "So I take it you still haven't forgiven him for refusing to let you bring some poor creature back to the TARDIS?"

"Do you know how many time I had the opportunity to say, 'Hey babe, I've got a ship that's bigger on the inside'? But _no_, the Doctor wasn't getting any, so neither was I."

Rose giggled and then turned to Sarah Jane, who had been making quiet conversation with the Brigadier during the reunion. "It's good to see you again, Sarah Jane. How've you been?"

The elder woman smiled kindly at the blond, ignoring the stab of jealousy that came with seeing her current state. "It _is _good to see you again, but would you care to explain to me how your name ended up on the list of the dead after Canary Wharf? It nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Well, we didn't really stay for the survivor count, and anyone whose body couldn't be found and was not alive was presumed dead." She knew that what she was saying was common knowledge, but Rose didn't really want to talk about what had happened. Still, she figured she should given them a little more information. "Also, the phrase 'trapped in a parallel universe' comes to mind," she mumbled under her breath.

Before they could inquire any further, there was a knock on the door. When it was opened, Ross was revealed, announcing, "Sir, they've located his ship. It's being brought into the cargo bay right now, if you would like to see it. Also, the medical officers report that there has been no change in his state."

Nodding grimly, the Brigadier dismissed Ross with a wave of his hand before guiding the group out the door and down the hall, heading for the elevator. "I'm sorry to report that, as you all know, the Doctor saved the day yet again - but at a cost. We have had medical officers watching him since we found him, but he has not yet started to regenerate."

With that the events of Rose's day grew far more grim, and after visiting the Doctor (who was looking more and more dead every moment) the group went down to the TARDIS, Rose letting them in and stroking the console reverently, like the Doctor was so wont to do. Rose knew she had to be getting back to her universe, to tell Mickey and Pete and Tosh all about this universe, and to figure out what had gone so terribly wrong - this was not her universe, but it was painfully close.

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_What do you think? I promise, the reunion will be next chapter, and I also promise that I won't make you guys wait a month for the next installment, but I don't know how long it will take... Please tell me what you liked, as well as what you didn't... I want to know what I'm doing wrong and how I can fix it. Also, I know there's no dreaming this chapter, but the promise of a reunion next time makes up for it, right?  
_

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_(stolen from Sunflowerb_)


	10. Part The Tenth

**_I don't own Doctor Who. But I am looking into buying a Sonic Screwdriver._**

**_Please be considerate and leave no spoilers for Series 5 in your reviews! I am not fortunate enough to have seen it, and have to wait two more weeks! :(

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_Searching Souls_

**Part the Tenth**_  
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"Okay, Rose," Tosh explained, "we've finally figured out how to read the timelines with the cannons. When you get to the universe, open up the cannon like this and press the button, the computer will do the rest. When you get back, we'll upload the data to our computers for evaluation." Tosh flipped the cannon shut once more and handed it over to Rose, who was about to leave on another jump.

"Press the button when I land, got it." Rose nodded in affirmation as she prepared herself for the shift. "Are you sure you can't send me back to that last universe, just to figure out where it went wrong?"

Tosh shook her head, "Sorry, Rose, you know Pete's orders. We have to keep trying new universes in order to get back. From what you've told us, that one was close, so hopefully you'll be back in touch with your Doctor soon."

Rose smiled at the technological genius before the familiar sensation that accompanied the shifts overcame her. She found herself surrounded by purple grass, an obvious sign that she had not been returned to her last universe. She quickly followed Tosh's instructions, pushing the newly inserted button before wandering towards the center of the city, trying to get an idea of where along the timelines this universe was. Out of nowhere, however, she was pulled into another shift, although she knew none was scheduled.

She was mid-stride when the shift occurred, and stumbled when she appeared in the new universe, exiting an alley. As she was looking around at the near-empty night sky, a familiar voice called out to her. "What was that, fireworks?"

Turning towards the familiar ginger woman, Rose replied rather absent-mindedly, "I dunno, I was just… walking along… That's weird." As she looked at the woman, Rose wondered if this was the same Donna Noble she had met before, if this was the same universe.

Just as the thought entered her mind, Donna spoke again. "You're the one. Christmas Eve, I met you in town."

Trying to draw attention away from her rather unorthodox entrance, Rose smiled. "Donna, wasn't it?"

Her question was met with another question. "What was your name?"

Trying not to draw any extra attention to herself, Rose hurriedly diverted the inquiry, posing her own questions with a bright smile. "How're you doing? You're looking good. How're things, what've you been up to?" As she spoke, her eyes were drawn to just over Donna's shoulder, as if there was something on her back to see.

Donna, however, noticed the change, asserting, "You're doing it again."

Rose, unable to pry her eyes away, could only reply absently, "What?"

Rose noted that Donna seemed upset as she explained, "Looking behind me. People keep on doing that, looking at my back."

Intrigued, Rose turned her attention to the confused woman, asking with interest, "What sort of people?"

"People in the street. Strangers. I just catch 'em sometimes, starin' at me, like they're looking at something. And then I get home, and I look, and there's nothing there!" Donna's voice had risen in volume and pitch as she grew more and more upset, and Rose's smile dropped off of her face almost immediately. Frantically, Donna turned her head to see her back, grasping behind her at the air. "See, look, no I'm doing it."

Remembering what the Doctor had told her during one of their "meetings", Rose turned to Donna and asked as if it was the most ordinary thing, "What are you doing for Christmas?"

Donna was, to say the least, confused by the sudden change of subject. "What am I _what_?"

Continuing with her questioning, Rose repeated, "Next Christmas. Any plans?" In the back of her mind, she recalled the Doctor's story of how Max Capricorn – what was left of him, at least – had plotted to crash his intergalactic cruise ship, a replica of the Titanic, into Earth for the money.

The response was, as should be expected, annoyed and dismissive. "I don't know, that's ages away! Nothing much, I suppose." Donna looked at Rose for a moment before she pressed, "_Why_?"

"I just…" Rose paused in an attempt to find the words that would convince the woman who had saved the Doctor on more than one occasion. Finally, the words rushed out. "I think you should get out. You and your family. Don't stay in London. Just… leave the city."

"What for?"

Ignoring the question, Rose pressed, "Nice hotel, Christmas break?"

The answer came quickly. "Can't afford it."

Rose, at a loss for words, said those that came to mind, knowing, somehow, that they were the right ones. "Well, no, you've got that raffle ticket."

Her words apparently meant something to Donna because the reply was almost instant. "How do you know about that?"

Still going with the words that came to her, Rose continued, "First prize: luxury weekend break. Use it, Donna Noble."

"Why won't you tell me your name?" The words were spoken slowly, and Donna's face showed that she meant business. Rose could not bring herself to answer, however, and her eyes followed Donna as the woman walked around her, enunciating each word as she proclaimed, "I think you should leave me alone."

'As Donna stormed off, Rose pulled out her cannon once more, figuring that she might as well get readings from this universe while she was there. As soon as she had put the cannon away, Rose pulled out her phone to get back to Tosh, something they had discovered could be done if a bit of the jumping technology was attached to the phone, an addition to the Doctor's jiggery pokery. As she waited for the technological genius to pick up, Rose began walking towards UNIT headquarters, conveniently not too far from where she had landed.

After a solid minute's ringing, Rose finally heard the familiar voice on the other end. "Rose? What happened?"

"I'm not sure... One minute I was in a new universe, purple grass this time, and the next I'm back in my last universe."

"How do you know which universe you landed in? You could be anywhere amongst the multitude of parallel universes."

"I landed right near Donna Noble, who I talked to last time, and she remembered me. I think that points towards my conclusion." Rose smiled as she reached the Unified Intelligence Taskforce's London office, quickly moving through security and up to the Brigadier's office, with a quick word with the receptionists so he would know she was coming.

"Rose, I know you want to help in that universe, but you can't stay too long, okay? We've got to get you back here so that we can run tests to figure out exactly what went wrong with the cannons."

"I know, Tosh, but I just have to see to a few things here, okay? I'll be back, though, don't worry."

The blond said her goodbyes and clicked the 'end' button just as she reached the Brig's office. When she entered, she saw that Jack was there, too, and both men had solemn looks on their faces.

"What 'appened?" Rose asked upon seeing their solemn expressions, knowing the answer would be the opposite of what she wanted to hear.

"The Royal Hope Hospital was abducted, as you may know, and, in an attempt to save others, Sarah Jane Smith gave her life. We are the remaining forces for fighting off the alien threats to planet Earth." The Brig's voice was quiet and morose as he filled Rose in on the details.

At the end of the tale, all Rose could get out was a whispered "Oh, Sarah Jane," and a sigh, knowing that the Doctor _had_ stopped all that death in her home universe.

When their meeting was over, Rose knew she had to leave, to get back so that Tosh could examine the data and her cannon, so that they could figure out why she kept ending up in the same universe.

oxOx0xOxo

As it turned out, no one could go on a jump without getting pulled to a different universe. "You see this number?" Tosh pointed to the highlighted segment of a string of numbers on her computer screen to show Rose, who was looking over her shoulder. "22503143? That's the number that tells us which universe you're going to. It seems like your jumper is stuck, along with everyone else's. We can plug in another number, and it'll stick for a few minutes but, without fail, they all change back to 22503143 and the jumpers are pulled to that universe. Every time I try to change it, I get an error, the Bad Wolf error."

Rose's head snapped up at that, and she knew, without a doubt, that she would just keep going to that universe until she found her way back to the Doctor. "Is there anything else?" she asked, curious.

"Actually," Tosh replied, the smile on her face revealing that there was a mystery being solved, "the readings we've been getting from your jumps are the strangest things. There seem to be two points that all the timelines are connected to. See?" Once again she pointed to the monitors, and Rose leaned forward with interest once more.

"Do you know whose they are?"

Tosh looked as though she had been insulted. "Of course I do. I'm not sure if you'll like it, though..." At the blond's pointed look, the technician continued, "One of them is Donna Noble, the woman you told us about before. I think she has a whole lot more to do with all of this than we originally suspected... But the other line... We can't be sure. It seems to be connected to Donna, somehow, as though it's what is pulling all the timelines to her, but it most certainly is not the reason they all center on her."

"Should I keep taking readings even though it's the same universe?"

"Of course! The more data we can collect, the more accurately we can determine how exactly the Donna Noble of that universe ties in with the stars going out."

When Rose landed in the universe once more (they didn't bother trying to go to a different universe this time) she called up the Brig, only to be told about the ATMOS issues (that explained the strange gas that she was attempting to breath in) and how exactly Jack and his team were dealing with it. She was not even the least bit surprised when, moments after she ended the call, none other than Donna Noble walked around the corner.

The ginger woman didn't seem particularly surprised to see her, either, as she spoke first, "Hello."

"Hi," came Rose's response. She knew that sitting in a street full of the cars which were emitting the strange gas was not the wisest strategy in the world, so she led Donna to a park, where the air was clearer and they could talk. "It's the ATMOS devices," she explained. "We're lucky, it's not so bad here, Briain hasn't got much petrol. But all over Europe, China, South Africa, they're gettig choked by gas."

Donna looked appalled, and Rose saw, in that moment, exactly why the Doctor had chosen this woman to travel with him. "Can't anyone stop it?"

"Yeah, they're tryin' right now. This... little band of fighters on board the Sontaran ship. Any second now..." Rose trailed off and watched the sky, waiting for the blaze that would signify the downfall of the Sontarans, and also the last of their defences.

As she had expected, the sky soon lit on fire, signifying both victory and loss. Donna, at a rather rare loss for words, could only murmur, "That was..."

"That was the Torchwood team," Rose supplied, silently mourning the loss of the one she loved, as well as those he held dear. "Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, they gave their lives. And Catain Jack Harkness was transpored to the Sontaran homeworld." She paused for a moment as the realization hit her and she whispered sadly, "There's no one left."

While the blond sat there quietly, Donna asked her a question, but she didn't hear it, too wrapped up in her own turmoil. After a moment, she told the confused woman, "None of this was meant to happen... There was a man, this _wonderful_ man, and he stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happenin'."

Donna seemed to know where this was going as she supplied, "That, Doctor...?"

Rose nodded slightly as she stated, "You knew him."

"Did I? When?"

Rose didn't answer, she just continued, "I think you dream about him sometimes. This man in a suit. Tall, thin man, _great_ hair. Some really great hair."

Donna looked at her in wonder for a moment before asking, not too politely, "Who _are_ you?"

"I was like you, supposed to be you. You traveled with him, Donna, you traveled with the Doctor in a different world." It was the best explanation she could give, under the circumstances.

Donna, however, was having trouble grasping the concept. "I _never_ met him," she insisted. "And he's _dead_."

The statement caused searing pain to go through Rose, the pain that had tormented her in the months after she was originally trapped in Pete's World. Still, she had to explain, "He died underneath the Thames on Christmas Eve, but you were meant to be there. He needed someone to stop him, and that was you, you made him leave. You saved his life."

The words seemed to bring about something in Donna, for she burst out after a moment, "Stop it! I don't know what you're talking about! Leave me alone!"

Rose could tell how upset and scared Donna was, but she also knew that she had bigger problems. "Something's comin', Donna. Somethin' worse."

Her words met deaf ears. "How can anything be worse than this?"

Rose could only implore the redhead, "Trust me, we need the Doctor more than ever. I've.. I've been _pulled across_ from a different universe, because every single universe is in danger. It's coming, Donna. It's coming from across the stars, and nothing can stop it."

"WHAT is?"

"The darkness."

Donna was growing more upset by the moment, and she did not seem to understand her importance. "W-What do you keep telling me for?! _WHAT _am I supposed to do? _I'm nothing special!_ I mean I'm - I'm nothing special! I'm a TEMP! I'm not even that! I'm _nothing_!"

Rose sighed at the response, the response that was strikingly similar to the response she would have given anyone before she had met the Doctor, had they told her to save the universe. Knowing, deep down, that it was the truth, the traveler exclaimed, "Donna Noble, you are the most important woman in the whole of creation!"

Sighing, Donna spoke, disbelief in her voice, "Oh, don't. Just, don't. I'm tired. I'm _so tired_."

Knowing that she would eventually do so, Rose informed Donna, "I need you to come with me."

With the spirit that Rose had heard all about from the Doctor, the redhead replied, "Yeah, well, blond hair might work on men, but you ain't shifting me, lady."

Smiling, Rose said, "That's more like it."

Donna smiled back, albeit tiredly, as she answered, "I've got plenty more."

"You'll come with me, only, when you want to."

"You'll have a long wait, then." With those words, the ginger woman began to leave, to go back to her family.

The words came to Rose easily, and she didn't question where they came from. "Not really. Just three weeks. Tell me, does your Grandfather still have that telescope?"

Donna turned at the words. "He never lets go of it."

Rose sighed as she felt herself being pulled back, she had been gone too long for Pete's liking. "Maybe it is time. But you've got to be certain, because when you come with me, Donna, I'm sorry, so sorry, but you...you're gonna die."

The last thing Rose saw before the white walls of the shift room was Donna's stare of bewilderment as she faded away.

oxOx0xOxo

The next time she sees Donna, three weeks for the ginger woman, everything is set up with UNIT. Rose still doesn't know what all the technology does, exactly, but the soldiers seem to know what they're doing, and that's the point. Rose is just a guide in this journey. When they arrive, Captain Erisa Magambo is waiting, with an unwelcome salute. She knew better than to give her name to anyone besides the Brigadier, and those who already knew her. It was easier that way, no terrible temporal wounds because someone knew her who wasn't supposed to.

While Captain Magambo and Donna got acquainted, Rose checked the readings on the TARDIS, smiling fondly at the ship as she asked, "Is it awake?"

The Captain looked over at the blond and replied, "Seems to be quiet today, like it's waiting."

Rose turned to Donna, anticipating her favorite part of traveling with the Doctor. "Do you wanna see it?"

Donna took the ship in, questioning, "What's a 'Police Box'?"

Rose gazed fondly at the ship that she had called her home for over two years as she replied, "They salvaged it from underneath the Thames, just go inside."

"What for?" Donna didn't seem to trust her, which was really only fair, seeing how Rose hadn't even shared her name.

"Just go in."

Rose watched, amused, as Donna slowly entered the ship. She heard the "No _way_" that was uttered, and watched with a grin as Donna exited the ship, slack-jawed, before taking in the perimeter of the ship and going back inside. When she came out again, Rose grinned once more.

"What d'you think?"

"Can I have a coffee?"

"Time and Relative Dimension in Space," Rose explained some moments later, showing Donna the console room. She pointed around the room for emphasis as she explained, "This room used to shine with light. Then it just died... She's still trying to help."

Donna was still in shock as she inferred, "And... And it belonged to the Doctor?"

Rose nodded, "He was a Time Lord, last of his kind." A voice in her head quietly added, 'although not for long.'

Donna still didn't seem to grasp the point. "If he was so special, what's he doing with me?"

"He thought you were brilliant," Rose supplied.

"Don't be stupid."

The speed with which she denied the claim shocked Rose. "But you are. Just need the Doctor to show you, though. He did the same to me, to everyone he touches."

Donna, being perceptive, asked quietly, "Is he the father?"

The two shared a meaningful look before Rose nodded ever so slightly, a hand moving to her stomach and her eyes drifting to stare where something should be on Donna's back. "You wanna see it?"

"No... Go on, then." The change in Donna's answer seemed to surprise even the ginger herself, but she stuck with the latter request, anyways.

Leading Donna outside, Rose explained, "We don't know how the TARDIS works, but we've managed to scrape off the surface technology, enough to show you the creature."

"It's a creature?" The shock was evident in her voice.

Leading Donna to the center of the circle, Rose directed, "Stand here."

At Captain Magambo's request, Rose left the circle, despite Donna's frightened request.

As the circle lit up, Donna squeezed her eyes shut, and Rose prodded kindly, "Open your eyes, Donna."

"Is it there?"

Rose continued prodding, "Open your eyes; look at it."

"I can't!"

Once more the words came to her as she said, kindly, "It's part of you, Donna, look."

It was no surprise when Donna flipped out upon seeing the creature, quite frankly, Rose had expected it. It took a few tries, but Rose eventually got Donna to calm down enough for her to ask, "What is it?"

Knowing it didn't sound very helpful, Rose answered, "We don't... know..."

Her fiery personality sparking to life, Donna replied sarcastically, "Oh, thanks."

Rose explained as much as she could about the creature, how it fed off of time, how it changed her life. Except Donna interrupted her. "But I never did anything important!"

"Yeah you did. One day, that thing made you turn right instead of left." They had spend a week tracing the timelines for the spot where the creature attached to Donna's, for what it changed.

"When was that?"

"Oh, you wouldn't remember it, it was the most ordinary day in the world. But when you turned right, you never met the Doctor, and the _whole world_ just changed around you."

Donna, however, was not nearly as calm about the situation as Rose was. "Can you get rid of it?"

Rose was truly apologetic as she replied, "I can't even touch it. It seems to be in a state of flux."

Donna, however, did not appreciate that answer at all. Slowly, so that each word was its own sentence, Donna pressed, "What. Does. That. Mean?"

The blond could only smile back, replying, "I don't know, it's the sort of thing the Doctor would say."

It was all proving to be too much for Donna, who exclaimed, "YOU LIAR! YOU TOLD ME I WAS SPECIAL! BUT IT'S NOT ME! IT'S THIS THING! I'M JUST A HOST!"

Trying to explain and also to placate the hysterical woman, Rose explained, "It's more than that. The readings are strange, it's like reality's just bending 'round you."

"BECAUSE OF THIS THING!"

"No, we're getting separate readings from it, and they've always been there, since the day you were born." Rose tried her best to make Donna understand, to get her to see how everything was so very wrong, but also so very fixable. "We thought it was just the Doctor we needed, but it's the both of you, Donna Noble, together, to stop the stars going out."

Donna, still not understanding her purpose, exclaimed once more, "WHY?! WHAT CAN I DO?!"

Rose did her best to soothe the woman, convincing her to go back and fix everything. She quickly followed, just barely managing to get her message out and then start up the cannon to pull her back before the universe began to collapse.

oxOx0xOxo

The Doctor felt his hearts racing as he listened to Donna's recollections of her parallel universe. He was setting the coordinates with record speed, the TARDIS sensing the urgency and moving controls around so that he could access them easier. He was so focused on getting them exactly where he wanted to be (for once) that he had to stop in order to hear what Donna was saying. "Thing is, Doctor, no matter what's happening, and I'm sure it's bad, I get that. But... _Rose _is coming back. Isn't that good?"

He looked up at her from his frantic movements, grinning at her for a moment as he let out a breath and murmured, "Yeah."

It was seconds later that they landed on Earth to find it a Saturday, with absolutely no outstanding trouble. No sooner had they gotten inside the TARDIS once more when the whole room shook, as if the TARDIS was landing, but they had not moved. Not one millimeter. The Earth was gone.

It took him all of two seconds to decide to go to the Shadow Proclamation, although, granted, the Doctor gets a whole lot more thinking done in two seconds than a human does in five minutes. In his frenzy, the Doctor almost forgot about Donna, sitting on the stairs, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Who is the female?" The rather rude question brought the Doctor back to his senses, temporarily, to hear Donna's reply.

"Donna. I'm a human being. Maybe not the stuff of legends, but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you." He beamed internally, knowing that it was not the time to gloat about how wonderful his companion was, but knowing that she was brilliant, all the same.

* * *

_Sorry about the wait, but my life's been kinda hectic lately. I hope this chapter made up for it! The _**poll is still open**_, for those of you who have yet to vote. I've gotten a bunch of good suggestions, and I think I know what I'm going to go with, but you can always change my mind._

_I know I promised a reunion, but can you guys take a look at how long this chapter is, and then add in most of "The Stolen Earth"? That would be slightly ridiculous. I'll try to update by the end of the week, though, since you guys are probably as anxious as I am to get the Doctor and Rose together once more. :)  
_

_I've got a **challenge **for you, my faithful readers. It's a fairly simple challenge, but it should be fun. All you have to do is come up with the best Doctor Who related pick-up line you can. You can leave it in a **review**, or you can **PM **me with it if you want to take some time to think about it._  
_I'll start you off with a fairly obvious one:_  
_"Hello, I'm Captain Jack Harkness. Who, may I ask, are you?" _

_Thanks in advance for all the fun!_ :)  
_*TRD*_

oxOx0xOxo


	11. Part The Eleventh

**Disclaimer: Maybe I'll just hop across the Atlantic, visit the Doctor Who set in Wales, hop into the TARDIS, and convince the original owners to sell it to me before it becomes huge. Sadly, I have not the moneys to go to the UK, nor any proof that the TARDIS they use for filming actually works. :(**

**I have only seen _The Eleventh Hour_ so far, please remember that with any Series 5 comments you may have to share with me.  
**

* * *

_Searching Souls_

**Part The Eleventh**

"Rose! What's going on?"

As she regained her senses after the rushed jump, Rose turned to see Mickey rush into the room, Jackie and Pete trailing behind him. In response to his query, Rose said the only thing she could, "It's starting."

"What do you mean, 'its startin''? _What_ is startin'?" Jackie burst out, not caring that her outburst had gained the acute attention of everyone in the Jump room.

Rose sighed, knowing that her mum would not stop until she had gotten a direct answer. "D'you remember that universe I told you about, Mum? The one that was nothin' more than darkness?" When the older Tyler woman nodded, Rose continued, "It's been spreading, that darkness. Across the universes, causin' 'em to collapse. And that universe I was just in? It collapsed, too. If we can't find a way to stop it, pretty soon the darkness will end up in this universe, too."

Rather impatiently, Jackie pressed, "Well, how are you goin' to stop it, then?"

Rose sighed, a hand on her protruding stomach as she gave the only answer any of them had been able to supply, "I dunno, Mum. None of us do. That's why we've got to find the Doctor. He's the only one who can save us."

Jackie sighed, knowing that fighting her daughter on this would be as pointless as trying to stop a drug addict from using when locked in a room with their drug of choice. That didn't mean she wasn't going to try, though. "But what if you can't find the Doctor, Rose? It's been _months_ and there are countless universes for you to sift through! What's your plan for if you can't find 'im?"

"Mum, not finding him is _not_ an option! Don't you get it?! He is our _only_ hope. We don't even know exactly what we're up against! If we can't get in touch with him, the right him, then we might as well give up!" Cursing the fragile emotional state that accompanied her pregnancy, Rose hastily wiped at the tears that were leaking from her eyes, trying to keep herself together so that she could continue her search for the Doctor. Jackie hastily wrapped her up in her arms, comforting her daughter with softly murmured words.

When she had pulled herself together, Rose led the group over to where the technicians were working at their computers. "How does it look?" Pete inquired, hoping for the best.

Toshiko, as head technician, answered promptly, "Its... interesting. Remember the 'Bad Wolf Virus' we encountered before?" Her query was directed at Rose and Pete, who nodded, while Mickey and Jackie both started in recognition. Tosh continued, "Well, the virus has been acting up again, except this time, it has been restricting our landing coordinates to a _different _universe. See?" She pointed to the numbers, 22503141, that appeared on the screen.

Rose did her best to quell the hope rising within her as she whispered, "Is that what I think it is?"

Tosh smiled up at her from the computers, "There's only one way to find out."

Grinning, Rose turned to Pete, expectantly. For a moment he considered feigning ignorance, but then the director of Torchwood remembered that he would be standing between a Tyler woman and the object of her desires, a feat that no one had ever accomplished unscathed. "Oh, alright, but make sure you bring one of the guns with you - we don't know what dangers are lurking out there."

Grinning ecstatically, Rose turned to her mother and best friend, pulling them both into tight hugs of excitement before heading over to the weapons rack and grabbing one of the bulky guns, too elated at the prospect of finally getting back to the Doctor to care that she was carrying a weapon, something the Doctor loathed to do.

Turning back to the three people in Pete's World that she care about the most (Had Tony been present, it would have been the four), Rose addressed Mickey first, "Look, I know you're gonna tell me that it's dangerous and that I should bring someone else with me an' all, but I _have_ to go, and I have to do it on my own. It's like how you had to stay here the first time we visited." Mickey nodded resolutely, and Rose continued, "You can't come after me, do you get that?"

"Rose -"

"Mickey, I know what I'm sayin'. If I get caught by whatever is causin' the darkness, it's gonna be really dangerous. Do you really think I'd want you to come after me and get yourself into trouble? I'd feel better knowin' that you were here, safe, rather than knowing you might be out there, in the middle of all the danger, lookin' for me."

Mickey frowned but nodded in understanding, making no further move to confirm or deny her request.

Turning to her mother and the man who was a close to a father as she was ever going to get, Rose said, "Look, I know it's dangerous, and I know that you probably want me to stay here, Mum, but you know that I can't do that. If not for myself, than for my child. How am I supposed to teach 'im all about being a Time Lord if I don't know anything about how they're supposed to be brought up?"

Jackie sighed, knowing that even if she managed to force her daughter to stay in their current universe, Rose would be the most miserable creature in it. "As soon as the universe is saved and you're back with the Doctor, you're going to come back to say goodbye, if not for me and Pete then for Tony. You got that?"

Rose smiled and nodded, knowing that her mother would most likely give the Doctor a piece of her mind as soon as she saw him. She turned to Pete, finally, "Please don't send anyone in after me, okay? I can call to check in, if you like, but if I don't call in four hours, just assume I'm out. I don't want anyone else to get hurt or worse, just because I do."

Pete's expression was entirely serious, as though the fate of the world rested with his decisions at that very moment, which they may very well have. After a long moment, he spoke, "Rose, you know that I cannot just let you go headfirst into trouble without sending someone after you to verify the safety of the world. It wouldn't be responsible of me, as the leader of Torchwood, or as your father." She was about to protest when he continued, "I will give you a chance, though. If you don't call in three hours, however, I'm sending our best team after you, and there is no convincing me otherwise."

Rose nodded in resignation as she stepped into the designated area. She turned to face the trio once more, "Right, well, wish me luck!" She slammed her hand down on the button, allowing the familiar sensation of being torn apart and put back together slightly wrong to overcome her. When she was once more on her feet moments later, Rose found herself on a dark street.

There was chaos all around her, people screaming, looting, and running for their lives. The large gun slung across her back was bulky, but she ignored the minor discomfort, pulling out her phone, only to find that there was no signal. She frowned. After the Doctor's Jiggery Pokery way back at the beginning of their travels, she had _never_ lost the signal. Not even when she was trapped on the parallel world. Frowning, she put the phone away, turning her gaze to the sky, which was filled with planets. Without a thought, she hit the button which would read the timelines before she began to move down the street.

The traveler moved through the streets hastily, despite the inhibition of the gun. Approaching a computer store, Rose noticed two looters, just as there had been all along the street. This time, however, she needed to get into the store, and knew that the two looters could only interfere with finding the Doctor.

"Oi! You two," she called, getting the looters' attention. "You can put that stuff down, or run for your lives." Pausing for dramatic effect, Rose cocked her gun, asking threateningly, "Do you like my gun?"

Rose watched the two men run off, smiling inwardly at their panicked reactions before getting to work, opening up the nearest laptop and trying her login on the Torchwood interface, hoping that it would actually work. Strangely enough, she received a message claiming that either her username or password was incorrect, and yet she saw the swirling background take over the computer, with the words 'BAD WOLF' across the top of the screen. The fact that the words were still showing up worried her, but Rose was distracted by the incoming transmission that took over the screen.

The deadly cries of "EX-TER-MI-NATE!" filled the store and shook Rose to the core with shock and fear. All she could do was stare at the screen in horror, wondering what was going to happen; how they could stop and entire fleet of Daleks. _Again_. The cold fear ran through her veins, and even the baby seemed to still.

Shutting the laptop and leaving, Rose hardly noticed when the shop got caught in the attack and exploded, mere moments after she left. She was too caught up in trying to figure out where the Doctor would go, were he on the Earth.

Traveling with the Doctor, Rose had learned pretty quickly to follow her gut instinct, and this time her gut was telling her to find Donna Noble's family, that they would lead her back to the Doctor.

Catching a bus map, she noticed that she was already in Cheswick, where she had found Donna in the parallel world (well, before the _Titanic _incident). It was by sheer coincidence that the traveler found herself in a desolate alley, void of all life, save for a Dalek, an old man, and a woman a bit older than her Mum. She smiled as the man tried to ward off the alien with a paint gun, knowing that the Doctor would approve of the weapon choice. Before the Dalek could harm the two humans, Rose quickly took aim and fired the large gun, thankful, not for the first time, that her father had made her carry the weapon.

As she approached the duo around the Dalek's smoking remains, the man held up his makeshift weapon as he offered with a relieved laugh, "Do you wanna swap?"

Rose would have smiled at his offer, were the situation not so incredibly dire. Instead she listened to her gut once more and prodded, "You're Donna Noble's family, right?" When they nodded confusedly, Rose briefly recalled the Doctor's recollections of formally meeting both during the ATMOS incident before shaking off the memory and stating, "I'm Rose Tyler, and I need you."

oxOx0xOxo

The Tandocca Scale had been his last hope, his last way to find the Earth, and he knew, as soon as it stopped, that the trail would not pick up again somewhere else. Still, their location brought a wave of nostalgia over him as he announced, "The Medusa Cascade... I came here when I was just a kid, ninety years old. It was the center of a rift in time and space..."

Donna was beginning to guess what he had already realized, asking nervously, "So.... W-where are the twenty seven planets?"

The Doctor could only sigh, defeated, as he answered, "Nowhere. The trail stops dead. End of the line."

"So what do we do?" Donna pressed, knowing that there _had_ to be a way to save the Earth, that the Doctor wouldn't just give up. When she received no answer, Donna urged further, "Doctor - what do we do?"

The Time Lord remained painfully silent, knowing he could do nothing further.

Growing hysterical, the ginger woman continued, pleading now, "Don't do this to me. No don't. Don't do this to me. Not now. Tell me: _What we're going to do!_ You _never_ give up! _PLEASE!_"

The Doctor sighed, running his hand through his hair in frustration. After a moment, he snapped, letting his frustrations out at his companion. "Donna, there is _nothing_ I can do right now, absolutely trail has _stopped_, I cannot trace it any further!"

For many long moments, the two stared at each other, fire in their eyes, Donna's insisting that there was _some way _to fin the Earth, and the Doctor's burning with the belief that there was no conceivable way to locate the missing planets. Their stalemate dragged on for what felt like hours, neither one backing down until a shrill ringing filled the room.

He was so startled by the noise that it took him a moment to exclaim, "_Phone_!"

As the Time Lord picked up the small device, he heard Donna's excited utterance. "Martha's phone."

"Martha, is that you?" The Doctor frowned when no response came, but then a thought occurred to him and he murmured, "signal," still deep in thought.

Donna's voice pulled him from his thoughts when she asked hopefully, "Can we follow it?"

Grinning, the Doctor replied, all confidence and audacity, "Just watch me!" As he said the words, the Doctor was pulled back to oh-so-long ago, back in the underground laboratory in New York (the first one), back to Tallulah with three L's and a H, when he had felt a similar surge of confidence. He quickly shook off the memory, jumping into action, pressing buttons and flipping switches, knowing that the bumpy ride would be worth finding the Earth (and the other missing planets) once more.

When the TARDIS had stilled once more, the Doctor and his companion peered at the monitor, elated with the glimpse of their surroundings.

As he explained to Donna about the pocket in time in which they found themselves, he registered a hopeful feeling stirring within him, a sensation that suggested he would be seeing Rose again quite soon. Suddenly, a series of swirling words on the monitor caught his eye, telling him that there was something trying to get through to him. "Ooh... Hold on. Looks like a sub-wave network," he muttered as he opened up communications.

As soon as it opened up, the screen split into four segments, showing him and Donna in the upper left corner, with the other three showing people he had not expected to see in a very long time, including the ex-Time Agent. The former con-man began the deluge of words directed at the Time Lord by exclaiming, "_Where the hell have you been_?!?! Doctor, it's the Daleks."

The flood of explanations from Jack, Martha, and Sarah Jane informed the Doctor that the Daleks had returned, and that they were taking people, for some nefarious reason or another.

In joy and amazement, the Doctor spoke fondly, "Look at you, all you clever people!"

"That's Martha," Donna said, nodding in the former companion's direction before looking at the upper right corner of the screen and indicating with a pointing finger as she asked, "Who's... _he_?"

Sighing tiredly, the Doctor answered shortly, "Captain Jack. Don't. Just... Don't." He sounded, even to himself, as though he had needed to warn people away from the flirtatious Captain far too many times.

After another minute of frenzied conversation, the Doctor felt something akin to lead fall into his stomach, weighing him down as he spoke sadly, "Everyone except Rose..."

When the sub-wave signal was interrupted by another, the ancient alien's mind instantly jumped to one oh-so-young human, letting his hopes soar as he uttered her name, "Rose."

Although in that instant the Doctor had sent a prayer to every single deity he knew of (and that was quite an impressive list) that it was his lost love on the other end of the signal, the Doctor was both disappointed and horrified to hear the familiar grating voice reverberate throughout the console room.

The sound of Davros's voice after the man had died so long ago shook the Doctor to the core, scaring him far more than even the Master had. The panic shook him, and he did not pay Donna's concerned assurances of their safety any mind as he spoke with the creator of the Daleks, trying not to go mad at the shock.

He registered Davros's cold words, "I have my children, Doctor, what do you have now?"

The Doctor, desperate to save the Earth and find his love (along with their unborn child), found the words to say, "After all this time, everything we saw, everything we lost, I've only one thing to say to you; _bye_!"

With those words, the Doctor closed the communications channel, setting the coordinates for Donna's house, knowing that she would want to verify the safety of her family.

oxOx0xOxo

Rose sat at the kitchen table in the Noble house, awaiting any news from the Doctor on the sub-wave, but, alas, there was none. With a startled glance at the clock, Rose realized that she had been in the universe for almost three hours, and still had not called in.

When Pete immediately picked up, she knew that the older man had been anticipating her call. "Pete," she began, knowing it was probably too late, "I'm alright, the Doctor is coming, everything is going to be okay." The silent 'I hope,' she knew, was not missed by Pete.

From the sigh she received as a response, Rose knew what was coming as Pete explained, "Rose, we waited for you, you have to know that. It took quite a lot of convincing to get Mickey to agree not to jump right away after _one_ hour. By five and a half, there was no stopping him..."

Rose frowned as the man who she had come to think of as her father trailed off, commenting in confusion, "Five and a half...? Pete, it hasn't even been three for me..."

"Rose," Pete began, not wanting to know, but knowing it was his job as leader of Torchwood to ask, "Have you figured out what's causing the darkness?"

Sighing, Rose replied with fear and anger in her voice, "I don't know _what_ is causin' it, but I do know _who_. It's the Daleks, Pete. They've returned. Again."

The man on the other end whispered in fear, "Jacks..."

Frowning, Rose asked in shock, "You didn't let Mum come look for me, did you?"

"I'm afraid there was no stopping her, you know what she gets like," came the rather sheepish reply. "Look, Rose, I've got to go see if I can get Tosh to figure out how to safely pull Jackie back, and I may very well do the same for you and Mickey, if you get into too much trouble. Find Mickey if you can, alright? It'll put my mind at ease."

After a hurried goodbye, Rose put down the phone and looked up to see Sylvia in the doorway, holding a mug of tea out for Rose to take. "Thanks," Rose muttered, taking a sip of the proffered drink before saying, "My Mum always said that a good cuppa could solve any problem." Absentmindedly, she added, "Her tea even saved the Earth, one time."

She had resigned herself to sitting at the Nobles' house, waiting for information when she heard the grating whir of the ship that she called home. Jumping up and grinning, Rose ran to the door, throwing it open and running down the steps to see that wonderful blue box parked down the street, with a figure clad in brown stepping out of it.

As she ran towards the man who had owned her heart from the first time he said 'Run,' Rose _knew_ that this was the right universe, that this was _her_ Doctor, and that they _would_ defeat the Daleks.

As they neared each other, the two weary travelers were filled with elation, love, and the sense that they were finally home. The Doctor knew, deep in his hearts, that there was no need to worry about Davros or the Daleks, that it would all work out, and that his Rose would once more travel at his side.

Anyone watching their reunion would have described it as something akin to a scene out of one of the movies, with the two lovers finally being reunited.

The two collided, arms out, quickly turning it into a hug, much like the countless ones they had shared before. Except this was different from all of those other embraces, and the bump pressed into the Doctor's stomach was a blatant reminder of that fact. Grinning wider than he ever thought possible, the Doctor pulled back to look Rose in the eye before crashing his lips to hers, drowning himself in her unique flavor.

The two were so wrapped up in their kiss that neither one noticed the Dalek roll onto the street until they heard its call.

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_A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys, we had some unforeseen computer trouble that left us with only on computer for four people for a little while. I hope this chapter made up for the wait. Thanks for all the reviews, guys, you really rock my world! The **100th Reviewer** gets... something... A one-shot, possibly? I'll figure it out and find a way to get in touch with whoever is number 100. :)  
_

_Also, did anyone else see John Barrowman on Desperate Housewives? XD_

_Thanks for all the pickup line suggestions, I'm still accepting more. :)  
_


	12. Part The Twelfth

_I would have updated yesterday, but PBS showed _Hamlet_, and I had to watch it. :)_

**(Disclaimer) **_**That's right. I own Doctor Who. That's why I've got the Doctor, Jack, and Ianto all tied up in my basement. ;)**  
_

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_Searching Souls_

**Part The Twelfth**

Neither having noticed the Dalek until hearing its loud call, it stands fair to say that neither of the lovers was prepared to deal with the alien. Since neither one was prepared, it is also fair to say that both the Doctor and Rose (along with Donna and her family, who had witnessed the entire scene) were relieved at the timely appearance of a certain fifty-first century Captain, who quickly took out the unwanted alien before anyone could get hurt.

The two had pulled apart at the Dalek's cry, and when it was gone, all attention was once more on the lovers standing in the middle of the street, hand in hand. The Doctor was forced to let go of her, however, when Captain Jack ran up to the pair and pulled Rose into a fierce embrace, having believed he would never see her again.

When Rose was released from the arms of the friend they had left behind, she knew, from the smile on his face, that it would be just like the old days, saving the universe in time for tea, with plenty of banter along the way.

"Well, well, well, Rosie, it would appear you've got some explaining to do. Last I heard, you were trapped in a parallel world, and now not only are you here, you're also pregnant?" Jack dropped his mock-serious tone as he exclaimed, "Wherever you were, I want to join in next time!"

The blond grinned right back at the Captain, laughing as she exclaimed, "Oh, Jack! I've missed you!"

With a pout, the Doctor cut in, "Hey! Where's my hug?"

As the Captain obliged the Doctor, Donna made her way over to the trio, a grin on her face at how obviously overjoyed the Doctor was, having never seen him so ecstatic in all their time together.

When she saw the redhead approaching, Rose turned to greet her, holding out a hand as she spoke, "Hi, I'm Rose." After a second she added self-consciously, "I dunno if he's mentioned me..."

Donna grinned at the younger woman, answering, "Of course I know who you are! I couldn't get him to shut up about you if I tried! I'm Donna, by the way, I don't think we were ever really properly introduced."

Rose laughed lightly, despite the impending danger that they were all ignoring for the moment, "No, I don't suppose we were.a Have you been keepin' him out of trouble?"

It was Donna's turn to laugh. "I don't think I could if I locked him in one of those padded rooms!"

Before Donna and Rose could say any more, the two men who looked nothing near their actual ages approached, the Doctor announcing, "Let's get back to the TARDIS before any more Daleks come to ruin our fun."

When they reached the ship, Donna paused to tell Wilf and Sylvia that they should stay inside before she, too, entered the blue box. When she reached the middle of the room, Donna took her place next to the two men, both of whom were staring expectantly at Rose, waiting for her to begin her story. After a quiet moment, Donna, seeing that no one else would, prodded, "Well?"

"Well what?"

Before anyone could answer the blond, the ship shook roughly and the lights dimmed. Stumbling over to read the swirling letters on the monitor, the Doctor exclaimed, "They've got us, power's gone! Some kind of chrono-loop!"

The ship shook one more time and all four passengers landed on the metal grating. As the Doctor quickly moved to help Rose up, Jack commented, "There's a massive Dalek ship at the center of the planets, they're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination."

Donna, frowning in concern, prodded the Doctor, "You said these planets were like an engine, but what for?"

Rose hardly paid any attention to the resulting question from the Doctor, giving him the answer that they had decided upon at Torchwood in the other universe, as a way to explain their project to UNIT, or anyone else with the authority to demand an answer. "It's the darkness. Stars were going out, one bye one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dieing. Basically, we've been building this... Um, this travel machine, this..." Rose frowned as she tried to describe it, pulling out the yellow device and fidgeting with it as she continued, "This, uh, dimension canon, so I c-... Well, so I can..." She was not entirely sure why she was having such a hard time finding the right words.

"What?" The Doctor prodded.

Smiling sheepishly, Rose answered, "So I can come back." When the Doctor giggled - though he would never admit that 'giggle' was the name for the sound that escaped him - she frowned and admonished, "Shut up. Anyway, suddenly, it started to work. The dimensions started to collapse." As she continued to explain their predicament, Rose watched everyone's expressions grow solemn, knowing that all of creation was at stake. The blond continued, knowing that the Doctor needed to know it all, "Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the void was dead. Something is destroying everything."

"And now we know who's behind it," Jack supplied, wondering just how many times the Daleks would interrupt their lives.

"But what are they doing?" The Doctor wondered aloud, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Before anyone could supply an answer (although that was not likely to ever happen), the ship jolted once more, this time in landing.

Always up for the challenge, the Doctor announced, "The Dalek Crucible, all aboard. We have to go out, 'cause if we don't, they'll get in."

Rose frowned, protesting, "You told me nothing could get through those doors. Remember? The assembled hordes of Genghis Kahn couldn't do it?"

"You've got extrapolater shielding," Jack chimed in, remembering the night he installed it.

The Doctor sighed, explaining, "Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers, hybrids, and mad. But this is a fully-fledged Dalek empire, at the height of its power. Experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door, it's just wood."

As the Doctor's words sank in, Jack turned to Rose, knowing that she and the baby had to come first. "What about your dimension jump?"

Rose frowned at the device, answering, "It needs another ten minutes, and anyway, I'm not leaving."

The Doctor nodded, knowing that he would never believe her to be safe if he could not see her with his own eyes. Turning to the Captain, he asked, "What about your teleport?"

Rose hardly heard Jack's negative reply as she moved toward the central column, enjoying the ship's musical hum in her head. She hardly noticed Donna asking the Doctor what they could do, she was simply enjoying the peace of mind that being on the TARDIS once more gave her.

"It's been good, though, hasn't it?" The Doctor's words pulled Rose out of her nostalgic daze. "All of us, everything we did." He looked at Dona, Rose, and Jack in turn as he spoke, "You were brilliant. And you were brilliant. And you were brilliant. Blimey..."

The Doctor led the way out the door, Donna and Jack following directly behind. Rose began to move towards the doors, but felt something holding her back, keeping her from leaving.

"Rose," the Doctor called, "You're no safer in there!"

The pregnant woman moved forward, bu the wooden door slammed shut just before she reached it, trapping her inside the ship.

Frantically tugging at the door handle, Rose called out, "Doctor! What's going on? What have you done?"

The Doctor, every bit as scared and confused as the blond, answered, "It wasn't me, I didn't do anything!"

Through the doors, he heard her stubborn exclamation, "Oi! I'm not staying behind!"

Still worried, the Doctor turned to the Dalek in front of him, accusing in anger, "What did you do?"

"This is not of Dalek origin."

Panicking, Rose called out, "DOCTOR!"

Still addressing the red Dalek before him, the Time Lord exclaimed, "Stop it! She's my... She's my _everything_, now open the door and let her out!"

The monotonous reply he received did not lift his spirits in the slightest. "This is Time Lord treachery!"

"Me?" He exclaimed, incredulity and frustration apparent in his voice, "The door just closed on its own!"

"Nevertheless, the TARDIS is a weapon and it will be destroyed." The words crushed him, but not nearly as much as the floor dropping out from under his ship.

"What are you doing?!" He cried out, "Bring it back! What have you done? Where is it going?"

"The Crucible has a heart of Zed-Neutrino energy. The TARDIS will be deposited into the core."

As the realization hit the Doctor, (though he though it to be impossible) his hearts broke further. "You can't, you've taken the defenses down! _It'll be torn apart_!"

Donna frowned before she spoke up, seeing the Doctor's obvious pain, but able to do nothing to assuage it, "But Rose is still in there!"

Jack, a surge of protectiveness over his younger friend rising up, chimed in, "Let her go!"

The cold, mechanical voice cut over their protests, "The female and the TARDIS will perish together. Observe." As the alien spoke, a screen dropped from the ceiling, and a most terrifying image of the blue box surrounded by flames appeared upon the screen. "The last child of Gallifrey is powerless."

Desperation in his voice, the Doctor supplicated, "Please, I'm begging you! I'll do anything! Anything at all! Put me in her place! You can do anything to me, I don't care, just get her out of there!"

Merciless, the Emperor Dalek spoke, "You are connected to the TARDIS. Now feel it die!"

During the course of his beseeching, the Doctor had stepped forward towards the Dalek he addressed, and Donna, seeing his pain, stepped up to him and grasped his hand, the only way she could think of to provide support for the broken Time Lord.

As everyone watched the screen, the Emperor Dalek spoke, "Total TARDIS destruction in ten reels. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. The TARDIS as been destroyed. Now tell me, Doctor, what do you feel? Anger? Sorrow? Despair?"

In defeat, the Time Lord, whispered brokenly, "Yeah."

The cruel alien continued to antagonize the Doctor, "Then if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you."

Jack, embodying the organization he headed, and not caring one bit, let his anger overcome him. He pulled out his gun and exclaimed, enraged, "YEAH? FEEL THIS!" With the declaration, the Captain started firing at the Dalek, releasing his anger on the creature.

The bullets did not harm the Dalek, but the creature exclaimed, "EXTERMINATE!" before firing at the immortal Captain, causing him to die once more.

Donna, shocked, started forward to see if he was okay, to do something, anything, to help the man, only to be stopped by the Doctor pulling on her hand, speaking, "Donna, come here. Leave him."

Appalled and in shock, she whispered, "They killed him..."

As the Daleks led them to the "vault", the Doctor turned back to Jack in time to see the Captain wink. The Time Lord, crushed at the loss of his love, his child, the ship that he called home, everything he had, drew his strength from the knowledge that Jack would come up with a plan, knowing that Donna needed him to refrain from breaking down for the time being. As soon as the whole mess was over with, he would have time to grieve, but until that moment, he would have to carry on.

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_Shorter this time, I know, but I wanted to leave off on a cliffhanger. ;) I think there's about three chapters left (including an epilogue), the story's wrapping up rather nicely, I think...  
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!! The **POLL **is also still **open**, but I've pretty much decided on the baby's name... Also, I'm still accepting **pick-up lines**, if you've got any - details on my profile.  
**Thanks** to everyone who reviewed last time, it makes my day to see the reviews in my inbox!_

_*TRD*  
_


	13. Part The Thirteenth

**(Disclaimer: If I owned Doctor Who, I'd make sure I had David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston, John Barrowman, and Gareth David-Lloyd's phone numbers. Sadly, I do not.)

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**

_Searching Souls_

**Part The Thirteenth**_  
_

Rose screamed as the TARDIS dropped, falling to the floor as the ship shook roughly. Worried and confused, she picked herself up after a moment, slowly pushing off of the grating. Stumbling, she made her way over to the central console, gripping it tightly for support. Wondering what was going on, Rose moved around the column until she could see the monitor.

Before she could get a good look outside, the ship jolted once more, knocking her roughly to the ground again. As she pulled herself up, Rose looked around to see what was going on with the TARDIS, only to find the columns crumbling and various parts of the ship on fire. The heat was overwhelming, and as she looked at the monitor, Rose could see nothing other than what resembled a giant ball of flames. Flames which were slowly making their way inside the ship, with the doors almost completely destroyed, merely wood, as the Doctor had proclaimed.

Panicking, Rose looked around for something, anything, that could help her and the baby survive. The entire room was falling apart, the jumpseat in flames and the columns in pieces on the floor. She knew, instinctively, that the rest of the ship looked no better, since the shields were down. Frowning she turned her gaze to the console, hurriedly pressing random buttons in the hopes that they would do _something _to help her escape to safety.

She must have pressed the right button, or maybe the flames and destruction had finally reached the console, because as she searched for a button she hadn't already pressed or a lever she hadn't already pulled, Rose spotted an ethereal golden glow emanating from one of the panels. As she watched, the panel was torn away by some mysterious force, and she was staring into the majestic golden glow of the heart of the TARDIS.

oxOx0xOxo

Mindlessly, the Doctor entered the vault, knowing that he _should_ stay strong and carry on, but also knowing that he had just lost _everything_; he didn't even have the TARDIS, his constant companion. He was slowly but surely growing numb from the pain, hardly able to think clearly enough to wonder what the Daleks were planning, or what was going to happen to him and Donna.

When the pair reached the center of the dark room, the Doctor heard Davros's voice command, "Activate the holding cells." Turning to face the man, who, by all logic, should be dead, the Doctor and Donna heard him practically gloat, "Even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained.

At the command, what Donna suspected to merely be spotlights turned on, and the Doctor reached out to see the "light" ripple at his touch, showing the barrier. Somehow, he found the strength to keep up the cheeky facade he had adopted what felt like eons ago. "Still scared of me, then?"

Brushing off the Doctor's remark, Davros announced, "It it time we talked, Doctor, after so very long."

Impatiently, the Doctor cut him off, "No, no, no, no, no, we're not doing the nostalgia tour. I wanna know what's happening right here, right now." Through the pain of loss, the Doctor found the strength to patronize his old enemy, "'Cause the Supreme Dalek said vault, yeah? As in dungeon, cellar, prison. You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement like what? A servant? Slave? Court jester?" With every word, the Doctor grew more antagonizing, knowing that, like most other times, he would probably have to talk his way would of captivity, although the antagonization was probably not helping this time.

"We have... an arrangement," Davros answered, clearly not enjoying the Doctor's words.

Full of some strange mirth (the loss he was still feeling may have made him a bit hysterical) the Doctor laughed as he exclaimed, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I've got the word! You're the Daleks' pet!"

Donna, knowing that the Doctor did not even have the consolation of Rose being alive this time, smiled weakly at his exclamation, knowing that he was not holding up as well as he appeared. She had to wonder, though, when the Doctor would completely fall apart.

She frowned when Davros turned to her and spoke, "So very full of fire, is he not? And to think, you gave up your family, your friends, your whole life, just to travel with him."

Ever watchful fore his companion's safety, the Doctor called to Davros, "Leave her alone." His voice was low, he was hardly the Doctor anymore. No, now he was the Oncoming Storm, a being that scared even the immortal Captain.

Davros, it would seem, was unaffected, "She is mine, to do as I please."

Donna, knowing it could be the end of her, but not particularly caring at the moment, asked nervously but boldly, "Then why am I still alive?"

"You must be here. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophesies of Dalek Caan." His voice was cold, and nearly as emotionless as the Daleks's. When he finished speaking, Davros pushed a button and another light came from the ceiling, but this one was just a light, nothing more.

Both Donna and the Doctor looked over at the newly-revealed creature, Donna staring at it in disgust as it exclaimed in a sing-song voice, "So cold and dark. Fire is coming... the endless flames..."

Repulsed, Donna asked the Doctor, "What _is _that thing?"

Frowning, the Doctor replied, coming back to himself a little, "That's right, you've never met before. That's the last of the Cult of Skaro; Dalek Caan. But it flew into the Time War, unprotected."

Proudly, Davros interjected, "Caan did more than that. He saw Time. Its infinite complexity and majesty raging through his mind. And... he saw you. Both of you."

At his words, Donna and the Doctor exchanged a nervous look, wondering what he could possibly be going on about.

Before they could ask, Dalek Caan sang out once more, almost gleefully, "This I have foreseen in the wild and the wind. The Doctor will be here, as witness, at the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious Children of Time!" In a bout of glee that Daleks are not supposed to possess, Dalek Caan giggled before continuing, "And one of them will die...!"

The Oncoming Storm taking over once more, the Doctor could barely contain his rage as he exploded, "Was it you, Caan? Did you kill Rose? Why did the TARDIS door close? Tell me!"

Full of mirth, Davros diverted the attention back upon himself as he spoke, "Oh, that's it! The end, the fire, the rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is. Why so shy? Show your companion... show her your true self." While the Doctor appeared uneasy, the Time Lord did not reply, even under Davros's scrutiny. After a moment, Davros continued, "Dalek Caan has promised me that, too"

The singing voice rang out again, "I have seen it. At the time of ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed!"

The Doctor was thoroughly confused, but every bit as irate and pained as he had been when the TARDIS fell, "What does that mean?"

Davros grinned as he answered, "We will discover it together... our final journey. Because the ending approaches. The testing begins." With his words, Davros turned away, facing Dalek Caan now.

In worry, confusion, and anger, the Doctor asked frankly, "Testing of what?"

Turning to face the Doctor once more, Davros declared, "The Reality Bomb." The Doctor stared on in confusion, anger, and shock as Davros activated a holographic screen and proclaimed, "Behold... the apotheosis of my genius."

Through some hidden speakers, everyone in the vault could hear the Supreme Dalek call out, "...two, one, planetary alignment field!"

Watching the screen, the Doctor finally worked out what was going on. "But that's Z-Neutrino Energy. Flattened by the alignment of the planets into a single stream. No._" Turning to Davros in panic and rage, he exclaimed, "_Davros. Davros, you can't! You CAN'T! NO!"

Donna, after watching the test on the screen, turned to the Doctor and asked, in fear of the answer, "Doctor, what happened?"

Davros took the chance to answer before the Doctor could, "Electrical energy, Ms. Noble." The Doctor stared at Davros, still not quite able to believe what he had just seen. "Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality Bomb cancels it out - structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter."

Donna, realizing what this meant, murmured, "Rose said the stars were going out..."

Angry, scared, and just plain upset, the Doctor worked it out aloud, "The twenty-seven planets... they become one vast transmitter. Blasting that wavelength..."

Davros cut him off, "Across the entire universe. Never stopping. Never faltering. Never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust. And the dust will become atoms and the atoms will become... nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation." He grew hysterical, _"_This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!"

As the Daleks were called back to the Crucible, the Doctor was still in shock. The Daleks, they were going to destroy everything, and without the TARDIS, there was nothing he could do to stop it. He couldn't even get out of the damn holding cell.

Before he could well in his misery more, an image of Martha Jones appeared on the screen, surprising the Doctor, Donna, and even Davros. A feeling of pride arose in the ancient Time Lord, and he waited along with everyone else in the vault to see what she had to say.

Martha took a deep breath before speaking, "This message is for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat: can you hear me?"

Frantically, the Doctor called out, "Put me through!" He could not help feeling hopeful that she would have some solution to their predicament; that UNIT was prepared to protect the Earth.

"It begins as Dalek Caan foretold," Davros spoke, causing a chill to go down Donna's spine.

She turned to the misshapen creature as it called out, "The Children of Time will gather... and one of them will die!"

The Doctor, having had enough of the Dalek's enigmatic exclamations, burst out in an exasperated tone, "Stop saying that! Put me through!"

Apparently, Davros did something, because the next words out of Martha's mouth were addressing the Doctor, "Doctor! I'm sorry. I had to."

Positively smug, Davros got Martha's attention, "Oh! But the Doctor is powerless - my prisoner. State your intent."

Holding up the device, Martha announced, "I've got the Osterhagen Key. Leave this planet and its people alone, or I'll use it."

The Doctor, needless to say, was quite baffled at this new device. "Osterhagen what? What's an Osterhagen Key?"

Grimly, Martha answered his query, "There's a chain of twenty-five nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust. If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart."

Appalled, the Doctor responded, "What? Who invented that?! Well - someone called Osterhagen, I suppose - but Martha, are you insane?!"

Knowing that it was probably their last hope at stopping the Daleks - and allowing that to show in her voice, Martha spoke once more, "The Osterhagen Key is to be used if the suffering of the Human Race is so great, so without hope... that this becomes the final option."

The Doctor, however, did not agree with Martha's logic. "That's NEVER an option."

Growing tired of explaining herself, Martha ordered abruptly, "Don't argue with me, Doctor." After taking a moment to cool herself down a bit, she continued, "'Cos there's more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these twenty-seven planets for something, but what if it becomes twenty-six? What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?"

Donna, with a sad smile on her face, said quietly, "Oh, Martha, you've gotten quite good."

Before much else could be said, the internal transmission was projected next to Martha's, and the Doctor was pulled out of his sorrow by the shock of seeing Jackie Tyler again. He had thought that she was still in the parallel universe, that he would never have to feel the smack of her hand on his cheek again, but there she was, right up there with Jack, Mickey (the idiot), and Sarah Jane. He realized, with a frown and a searing pain, that he would have to be the one to break the news to Jackie, that he would have to tell her that her daughter was dead, burned at the center of the ship that they were standing on.

The Doctor was pulled out of his terribly sad musings as Dalek Caan sang out once more, "The Doctor's soul is revealed!See him! See the heart of him!"

Donna, along with the surviving members of "The Doctor's Secret Army" watched as the Doctor's face grew downcast, weighed down with grief and guilt. She knew that he needed comfort, and it pained her that she could not offer it, thanks to the holding cells.

Davros, noticing the shift in his mood, proclaimed, "The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor: you take ordinary people and you fashion THEM into weapons. Behold your Children of Time transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this."

The Doctor tried, ineffectually, to defend his former companions, although it was clear he could not even convince himself, "They're trying to help."

Davros continued without mercy, "Already, I have seen them sacrifice today for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the subwave network."

Looking up, the Time Lord asked quietly, "Who was that?"

Martha, on the other end of her camera, answered mournfully, "Harriet Jones. She gave her life to get you here."

Davros was not done torturing the Doctor, however. He continued, "How many more? Just think. How many have died in your name?"

At the words, the Doctor recalled those who had died trying to help him: Jabe, the tree woman who had discovered him as the last of his kind; The Controller, giving him the location of the Daleks at the cost of her own life; Lynda, exterminated even though he tried to keep her out of harm's way; Sir Robert, risking his life at the Torchwood House; Mrs. Moore, standing up against the Cybermen in Pete's World; Mr. Skinner, Bridget, and Ursula, falling prey to the Absorbaloff; The Face of Boe, saving New New York; Astrid, saving him from Max Capricorn; Luke Rattigan, destroying the Sontarans; Jenny, saving his life and then dying in his arms; River Song, forcing the cables together so that they could get everyone out of the Library safely; the hostess and Sky on the train, falling out of the airlock instead of him. He remembered all those people, and the countless others who had come before them, and he knew that, had he not interfered, they would have survived.

Davros, knowing the effect he was having, continued, "The Doctor... the man who keeps running, never looking back, because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you... yourself."

The Doctor had no response, he could only stare at the floor, hating himself for being the cause of so many deaths. He hardly even noticed when Martha, Jack, Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah Jane were all transported to the vault, their weapons abandoned. He tried to get them to stay back, but his holding cell would not allow any action, so the Doctor stood and watched solemnly as the group was brought to their knees by the Daleks and Davros, the threat of extermination subduing them.

He heard, absently, as Davros added, "The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor and his children all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek... the time has come! Now... Detonate the Reality Bomb!"

The Doctor listened as the Supreme Dalek made the arrangements for the Reality Bomb to be set off before he exclaimed, trying to reason with his old enemy, "You can't, Davros! Just listen to me! Just STOP!"

Cackling with laughter and voice filled with something akin to glee, Davros yelled out, "Nothing can stop the detonation! Nothing! And no-one!"

At that very moment, however, everyone was taken aback by the sounds of the TARDIS materializing in the vault.

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_A/N: Sorry about the wait, I've been studying for my AP Biology test tomorrow.... Which is why I stayed up until 11:30 to post this (when I have to get up at 6:30 tomorrow). Yep, I'm just full of logic.  
HUGE thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, it means a lot! I'm still working on the 100th review fic, as well as a few side-projects, so keep an eye out for those, they should be done within a month. (That's as much as I can promise right now)._

_Please tell me what you think!_

_*TRD*  
_


	14. Part The Fourteenth

_Did I say this would be out soon? Well, things got hectic... Sorry 'bout the wait._**  
Disclaimer: Yup! I totally own it! And the Doctor has never lied about his age!  


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_Searching Souls_

**Part the Fourteenth**_  
_

In a last effort to save herself, her child, and her love, not to mention the entirety of creation, Rose looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked back. They looked into each other, and the once simple Earthling became one with the ship once more.

She was no longer Rose Tyler, shop girl (never mind that she had not worked in a shop for years, she carried the feelings of unimportance with her even after she left Henrick's for good). She was now the Bad Wolf, the most powerful being in creation, and she would get what she wanted.

The ship, that wonderful ship, saw her intentions and brought her to the Vault, where her Doctor was waiting to be saved.

She saw Davros, the man who caused all the trouble to begin with, shrink back in fear when she showed up. She heard him whisper, "Impossible."

She saw her mother and Mickey, both of whom had followed her to this universe against her instructions, grinning at the sight of her, neither knowing the true extent of her powers.

She saw her Doctor, the man she loved so much, stare at her in awe, in amazement, and she saw the grin light up his face, along with the fear of her phenomenal power.

She saw everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be, and all that must not.

She saw her own, piteously short human life running out, leaving her Doctor and her son without her. She saw their pain, and it was her pain. She knew that she could stop their pain, if she could just elongate her life. All she had to do was wish it, and it would happen. All she had to do was wave her hand, just a flick of the wrist, and she would live as long as her Doctor, as long as their child. And so, she did.

This time, she knew what she was doing. The power of the Time Vortex was familiar to her, now, she knew how to work it.

She saw her Captain, whom she had saved so long ago. She saw him, so lonely in his immortality, outliving everyone he stopped to care about, holding the man he loved as an alien attack brought death upon him. She saw his heart break, saw him leave Earth behind in his grief, and knew it must be stopped. So she repeated the words that had saved him, "I bring life." With a swish of her hand, Ianto Jones, the most important man in her Captain's life, became just like her Captain, living far longer than most humans were ever meant to. But these two, they were meant to have forever together, and she saw that.

The Bad Wolf saw the Daleks fire at her, crying out "Exterminate!" as they did so, and she could have laughed. With another wave of her hand, she stopped their assault, causing them to cry out, "Weapons non-functional!"

As Davros watched in horror, she turned off the holding cells, speaking in her ethereal voice, "I am the Bad Wolf. Defeater of the Daleks, ender of the Time War. I will protect my Doctor. He will be safe."

The Doctor's mind was a total mess of emotions, each one with a strong presence, but not a single one could claim dominance over the rest. He felt hope, fear, curiosity, wonder, happiness, relief, confusion, love, trust, worry, and even a little bit hungry, although that hardly registered amongst the rest of the overpowering emotions.

Though the holding cells were now gone, he could do nothing more than stare in wonder and fear at his love, at everything she had done. He could not even respond when Donna whispered, "Doctor? What's going on?"

Finally, he turned to Donna, aware that the Bad Wolf was still glowing in the doorway of the TARDIS. "Rose, she looked into the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the entire Time Vortex. No one's ever mean to have that power. If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god, a vengeful god. But not Rose. She's done this before, saved my life then, too. She looked into the TARDIS and became the Bad Wolf, a goddess, of sorts."

Aware that everyone in the room - save for, perhaps, Dalek Caan and the Bad Wolf herself - had been listening to him speak, the Doctor let his words sink in before turning to the golden goddess once more. Feeling a strong sense of deja vu, the Doctor repeated the words that had not helped before, hoping that this time would be different, "Rose, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this 've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're gonna burn."

The Bad Wolf stared past her Doctor, not heeding his warnings. Softly, she turned to the group of allies who had tried to save the universe on multiple occasions, murmuring, "I want you safe." The Doctor, alone, recognized the words, and his face showed his shock. "My family. Protected from the mad man."

Davros looked ready to object at her reference to him, but appeared to think better of his actions, choosing to stay silent and watch the proceedings.

The Daleks, however, were not so clever. "What is this abomination?" They cried, trying - and still failing - to fire at her.

Speaking achingly familiar words, the Bad Wolf's voice echoed, "You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space - every single atom of your existence, and I divide them." Once more, her hand rose from her side, and the Dalek closest to her separated into golden, liquid-like particles. Continuing, she whispered, "Everything must come to dust... all things. Everything dies." She glanced around the room, and every Dalek was reduced to the golden particles, resulting in scattered piles of golden dust, painfully familiar to the Captain, even though it had been centuries since he woke up on the gamestation. "The Time War ends for the final time." With that said, she raised her arms once more, and every Dalek in the Medusa Cascade was reduced to dust.

As she stood in the doorway to her home, the Doctor approached the woman he loved, beseeching her, "Rose, you've stopped them. Now you've got to let go of this power. It's killing you and you know it."

In a hushed voice, the blond goddess questioned, "How can I let go of this? We could be together forever."

Frantically, the Doctor tried again, "But this is wrong! You can't control these things!"

Turning to the Time Lord, Rose ignored everyone else in the room as she spoke to him and him alone, "But I can. The sun and the moon. The day and night."

The Doctor, knowing these words, waited for her to comment on the pain, but it never came. Bewildered, he prodded, "But you're not made to hold such power. It'll burn you up!"

The most powerful entity in the universe merely laughed at her Doctor, trying to assuage his fears, "My silly Doctor, did you really think I would let myself burn up? I will not let myself die, nor will I allow you to sacrifice yourself for me once more. This body has adapted itself for such power, it was _made_ for this moment."

"But..." the Doctor trailed off, not having the faintest clue how to get everyone out of the Crucible while Rose refused to let go of the power.

"I can see everything. All that is... all that was... all that ever could be. I see these misplaced planets, and I send them back to the times and places where they belong. I send them home." With a wave of her hand, they were returned, and she began to feel the power ebbing away; she did her job. The power of the Vortex returned to its resting place as she exhaled, the golden light bringing back memories of right after the Doctor's regeneration. Before the power left her completely, the Bad Wolf started the Crucible on fire, making sure that the Dalek Empire would never rise again.

"Everyone, get inside the TARDIS!" The Doctor commanded, knowing what was about to happen. To Davros, he offered, "Davros? Come with me! I promise I can save you!"

With the air of a man who had gone completely mad, Davros cried out, "Never forget, Doctor - YOU did this! I name YOU, forever, YOU are the Destroyer of Worlds!"

Although it pained him, the Doctor allowed himself to be pulled into the TARDIS by Jack and Mickey, and he couldn't help but laugh when Rose quipped, "Close the door, will you. That ship's about to blow up - there's gonna be a draft."

Pulling himself together, the Doctor closed the doors and moved towards the group standing around the central column. He moved first to Rose, prodding, "Rose, are you okay?"

"Of course I am! I'm not just a stupid ape, you know!"

Laughing, he pulled her in for a celebratory hug, knowing that there would be time for kissing - and more - once they had dropped everyone else off at their respective homes. He walked around the console, talking to each person, "Now then, you lot Sarah - hold that. And Mickey - you hold that. Because, you know why this TARDIS is always rattling about the place? Rose - that, there. It was designed to have six pilots and I have to do it single handed. Martha - keep that level. But not anymore! Jack - there you go, steady that. Now we can fly this thing -" At this point, he reached Jackie, and he hesitated before continuing, "No, Jackie. No, no. Not you. Don't touch anything, just... stand back. - Like it's meant to be flown! Right, then! Off we go!"

They landed the TARDIS in a park, and as the Doctor said goodbye to Jack, Martha, and Sarah Jane, Rose turned to her mum and Mickey. "I thought I told you to stay behind!"

"Oh come on," Mickey retorted, "you couldn't 'ave expected us to sit back and let you have all the fun! Not when the universes needed saving."

Jackie nodded, although she did not add anything in their defense. She was surprised, however, when Mickey turned and pulled her into a hug, saying his goodbyes. It wasn't much of a mystery to her as to why, though. His gran was gone, there was no reason for him to keep living in Pete's world. In this one, he could even start over.

When he turned to Rose, he didn't have much to say, "You'd better stop by and visit me, wherever I end up. An' I wanna see the kid sometime, too."

Rose nodded, murmuring, "Of course. We'll visit as often as we can, although knowing the trouble that follows us, you'd probably prefer we didn't."

The next stop was the harder one to make, for Rose, anyway. She turned to the Doctor before he landed them, speaking softly, "Please don't land us back on that godforsaken beach, yeah? It'd save everyone a lot of hassle if we just went to the mansion."

Nodding, he changed the coordinates, landing them in the sitting room of the Tyler Mansion, much to the amusement of the youngest Tyler, who had been sitting on the couch, vapidly watching "Carpet Rodents".

After the tearful goodbye with her mother, father, and little brother, Rose entered the TARDIS once more, to find the Doctor talking to Donna quietly, a resigned air about him.

"What's goin' on?"

Donna spoke first, her voice revealing that she had made the decision a long time ago, "He's gonna drop me off back home. I've had my fill of travelin' the stars."

Rose frowned, retorting, "I don't think that's possible. You know that I'd love it if you stayed, right? With both of us here, we'd make sure he never stepped a toe out of line!"

Donna laughed before answering, "I'd just be in the way here. You two have got a family to raise, now, you don't need me sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong."

Sighing, Rose nodded, knowing that the redhead was every bit as stubborn as her hair color suggested. "Alright, but you'd better keep in touch! Plus, I'll make sure that Jack gives you a job, or UNIT, there's no need for you to go back to your old life completely."

Though both Rose and the Doctor wished Donna could stay with them, both knew that the ginger woman would not be happy if they simply denied her request, so they dropped her off back home, to live the extraordinary life that awaited her, defending the earth from those alien threats that the Doctor didn't stop by in time for.

When all was said and done, Rose turned to her love, the father of her unborn child, and murmured, "I love you, Doctor."

Turning to her, the Doctor repeated the sentiment, "I love you too, Rose, more than anything in the universes."

Soon enough they would discuss Rose's journey, her Bad Wolf stunt, and continue with their adventuring, saving civilizations and running like hell, but for now they were just happy to be alive and to have each other. The two embraced and then kissed, glad to be able to share their wonderful adventures with each other.

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_Well, here it is. I hope you like it! Just the epilogue left, now, but I'm not sure when that'll be up. Or the one-shot for the 100th reviewer... They'll be up eventually...  
You know what would be great? If all 95 people who have this story on alert would leave a review. Pretty please?  
Also, if you want, you can ask me questions on my new-ish Formspring - it's my "homepage".  
*TRD*_


	15. Part The Fifteenth Epilogue

_Searching Souls_

**Epilogue**_  
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November 19, 2008

Everyone sat not-so-patiently in the conference room, all ears straining to hear the sound that had quickly become familiar to even those who had never actually traveled in the ship. Throughout the initial tense moments, Ianto recalled the call that came in a week prior, announcing the date and approximate time of their arrival. While he spoke with Rose, she also asked that he gather Donna, Martha, and Mickey from wherever they had wandered off to. And Sarah Jane as well, come to think of it. The young Welshman recalled how Rose's voice sounded exasperated, and how he had heard the Time Lord's voice through the phone as well, although the words were indistinguishable.

Noticing that everyone's mug was empty (and having nothing better to do), Ianto set off to the kitchen to make some more coffee. When he returned later with seven mugs of steaming coffee in hand (figuratively, not literally - he had a tray), he had only the chance to set down the mugs before the wonderful, timeless sound rang out from the middle of the Hub.

The Doctor's timing was always perfect like that.

The entire entourage (for lack of a better word) rushed to the part of the Hub where the sound was the loudest and a blue box was flickering in and out of sight - Tosh's old station - in time to watch the magnificent ship materialize before their eyes. Everyone waited expectantly, watching for either the Doctor or Rose to emerge first, baby in hand (well, arm).

Naturally, none of the group was expecting to see only the Doctor's head emerge as he called out, "Ah, Martha, you're here! Good, we need you in the medical bay, quick!" As soon as he was done speaking, the Doctor disappeared into the depths of the TARDIS, presumably to the medical bay.

After a brief moment of surprise, Martha hurried into the ship with a strong feeling that she knew what was going on.

The remainder of the people in the Hub stared at the TARDIS in confusion, wondering whether or not they should follow into the ship. After a moment, a very disgruntled-looking Doctor emerged, pouting and muttering about companions kicking him out of his own ship.

As soon as the door closed behind the Time Lord, the distinct sound of a lock clicking into place permeated the silence, and everyone knew that there would be no entering until the TARDIS herself decided it was time.

The Doctor, three times as energetic as usual due to the excitement of it all, could not find it in himself to sit still while they waited, resorting to pacing the Hub after all of thirty seconds.

The remaining six retreated to the couches, knowing better than to try and calm the Doctor down - it never worked with this regeneration. They could all understand why he was so excited - if all went well, he would no longer be the last of his kind.

For Rose, it was all just a blur of pain, mixed with mental encouragements from the TARDIS and verbal ones from Martha. The young woman had been Rose (and the baby)'s doctor since they got back to the universe - it was only logical, really, since the Doctor was likely to not use proper judgment when considering his Rose and his child, and since they could not go to a normal doctor, what with the baby having two hearts. The pain was worth it, however, when she finally got to hold her son in her arms. She had never expected to have the time for a child while traveling with the Doctor (which she always planned on doing forever) but now that he was here, she knew she wouldn't have it any other way.

The slap of shoes on the grating preceded the Doctor's arrival by seconds, the TARDIS having finally allowed him entrance (much to everyone's relief - it looked as though he would pace a hole in the floor if he didn't stop pacing soon). When he rushed into the room, the Doctor was struck speechless (a rare feat, to say the least) by how positively angelic Rose looked holding the baby - _his son_ a voice in his head whispered - in her arms.

Noticing that he had stopped in the doorway and was staring at her, Rose blushed slightly (although it was hidden by how flushed her cheeks were anyway) and grinned at him. "C'mon, don't just stand there! Don't you want to meet your son?"

At the words, a grin so wide it should have split his face in two appeared across the Doctor's visage, exemplifying a mere fraction of the joy he felt. The Time Lord quickly strode across the room towards his family - the words echoed in his mind, filling him with joy and warmth more intense than he had felt in at least a century. When he reached the two, the Doctor, looking quite funny, in Rose's opinion, leaned over to peer at his son, studying the small face with a grin on his own. "Hello," he whispered, locking eyes with his son.

Holding their child up slightly, Rose offered, "D'you wanna hold him?"

The grin still in place, the Doctor nodded and picked him up as Martha slipped out of the room, unnoticed by the two new parents.

As soon as the Doctor had their child in his arms, he felt the young Time Lord's inquisitive presence in his mind, eager to learn all about his parents. The Doctor, having not had a psychic connection with another Time Lord in a century, gasped at his little miracle.

At the startled sound that the Doctor made, Rose asked, "Is everything alright?"

Looking up at Rose, the Doctor nodded. "Perfect. Everything is just perfect."

x0XOX0x

The TARDIS doors had closed as soon as Martha was back in the Hub, and everyone had tried to continue waiting patiently to be granted entrance to the ship, although it proved to be a difficult feat, made no easier by the fact that Martha had declared the baby a boy the moment she slipped out of the ship. Finally, after what felt like a whole lot more than half an hour, the doors swung inward, and all seven friends entered the ship, allowing the TARDIS to lead them to the medical bay, where the small family was waiting.

One by one, Mickey, Jack, Donna, Martha, Sarah Jane, Ianto, and Gwen piled into the medical bay (which the TARDIS had quickly reorganized to have more standing room), much to the amusement of the Doctor and Rose, who were waiting for the flow of people to stop. Finally, when everyone had entered the room, Rose gestured to the wide-eyed baby in the Doctor's arms and announced, "Everyone, I would like you to meet James Jack Tyler, Jamie for short."

The immortal Captain grinned at the boy's name, saying cheekily, "I'm so honored to have the future of an entire species named after me! Really, guys, what did I do to deserve this honor? Besides allowing you to use my Hub as a parking garage whenever you want."

The Doctor replied, "Well, we figured we might as well name our son after the two guys who affected our lives as much as we affected theirs. Plus, it's a way of making up for the fact that I'm never allowing to be alone with him - even when he's grown up and can make his own decisions."

At that the Captain pouted, "Hey! What makes you think I'd even think of doing anything to your kid?"

Rose laughed. "If you hadn't noticed, we know you, Jack! And I'm not complainin' about the Doctor's rules - he'll have enough excitement running through the stars, he won't need any drama you bring along."

Cutting in before the playful argument could continue, Mickey interjected, "So you name the kid after Captain Cheesecake, but I don't even get a mention after everything I've done for you?"

"Well, Mickey, the not-quite idiot, if it's alright with you, Rose decided you should be the godfather, though I see not real use for excessive titles like that."

Ready with a retort, Mickey quipped, "Says the man who only goes by a title that, as far as we know, is not actually legitimate." After a brief laugh, he continued, "Sure, I'll be the godfather, but this means you're gonna have to stop back for visits a lot more often, you know."

Eventually, the Doctor announced that they would have to leave and began herding everyone towards the TARDIS doors, Rose following with Jamie in her arms. At the door, Rose called, "We'll be sure to visit soon, don't worry!"

Before they departed, however, the Doctor pulled Jack aside and said, "You know, you haven't traveled with us in a while, how would you feel if we stopped by a hundred years down your timeline to pick up you and Ianto? You know, since you can't be alone with Jamie."

Before the Captain had a chance to point out that, sadly, Ianto would most likely be dead in a hundred years' time, the Doctor rushed into the ship and the machine began to dematerialize, leaving the Captain to ponder why the Doctor would have said such a thing, knowing normal human lifespans all too well. Soon enough, he would discover the reason for the Doctor's words, and then they would need to have a long chat, but until then, the happy little family would go on a tour of time and space, partaking in the adventure that the Doctor had always thought he could never have.

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_So, did you guys like that ending? I tried to make everyone happy, but it was difficult, which is why this took so long to get up. That, and I've been really busy lately. :)_

_Since this is the last chapter, please review, everyone, I really want to get to 150 reviews! Also, I may or may not do little one-shots as follow-ups for this story, but you guys have to tell me what you think of that idea in reviews!_

_*TRD*  
_


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